Purdue navigates past Vermont with 80-70 victory

MILWAUKEE -- Vermont gave the Big Ten champion everything it could handle, but in the end the combination of Caleb Swanigan and Issac Haas was too much to overcome as Purdue advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament with an 80-70 victory on Thursday night in a Midwest Regional game at the Bradley Center.

Swanigan scored 15 points and Haas added eight for the fourth-seeded Boilermakers, who dominated the paint against the undersized Catamounts, outscoring them 42-24 with a 36-28 advantage on the boards.

Vince Edwards led Purdue (26-7) with 21 points.

The Catamounts (29-6), the No. 13 seed in the region, shot 44.5 percent from the floor, made 10 of 27 3-pointers and got 20 points from Anthony Lamb and 15 from Trae Bell-Haynes.

Lamb hit 5 of 8 shots from the field in the first half, including three from beyond the arc for 14 points, to lead Vermont, which led by eight early before Purdue, behind 11 points from Swanigan, rallied and went into halftime up by one.

The Boilermakers opened the second half on an 8-2 run to make it 45-38. Bell-Hanes drained a 3-pointer to cut the deficit back to four and Ernie Duncan made it 51-50 with 12:24 to play.

Swanigan drained a 3 on the other end that restored the four-point Purdue advantage. After trading baskets, Edwards hit a 3-pointer to put the Boilermakers back up seven.

Vermont shot 52 percent from the field in the second half and kept hanging close, but the Catamounts just couldn't close the gap.

P.J. Thompson's 3-pointer from the top of the key with 2:08 to play made it an 11-point game, all but sealing it for the Boilermakers, who advanced to face the winner of Iowa State-Nevada on Saturday.

NOTES: Caleb Swanigan finished with 16 points and 13 rebounds, good for his 27th double-double of the season -- the most this year by a Division I player and the most by any player in a season in Big Ten history. ... Vermont brought the nation's longest winning streak into the game. The Catamounts had won 21 in a row before their loss Thursday. ... Purdue is 20-7 all time in first-round tournament games, including a 15-2 mark since 1994. ... Vermont, making its sixth appearance, fell to 2-6 in NCAA Tournament games.