March 19th, 2009 
Stephen Rhodes 
Posted in 
They were beat up and bandaged – sort of like the walking wounded, so to speak. Yet the 5th-seeded Purdue Boilermakers, in their game against the 12th-seeded Northern Iowa Panthers on Thursday, were just that. And they needed a maximum effort from both the hurt and the healthy – especially E’Twaun Moore - as they held off a late charge, holding off Northern Iowa 61-56 at Portland, OR.
The Panthers jumped out to an early 6-4 lead before the Boilermakers went on a 14-2 run, capped by a JaJuan Johnson hook shot; they would go into halftime with a 32-20 lead. but Northern Iowa would slowly come back as they narrowed their deficit to 40-34 on a Kwadzo Ahelegbe jumper and free throw with 12:10 left in the game.
After Johnson hit a jumper for the Boilermakers, Jordan Eglseder made a putback for the Panthers; Northern Iowa would close to within 56-54 on Kerwin Dunham’s 3-pointer with 17.4 seconds left. Chris Kramer added a pair of free throws for the Panthers before Ahelegbe missed a layup with 7.7 seconds remaining; Purdue’s Lewis Jackson, although making only one of 2 free throws at the other end, helped seal the game.
Purdue’s high scorer was Moore with 17 points, a rebound, 2 assists and 2 steals while Johnson added 14 with 3 rebounds and a block. Northern Iowa was led by Eglseder with 5 rebounds and a block while Ahelegbe added 11 with a rebound and 2 assists. Purdue will advance to the second round where they will face #4 Washington on Saturday.
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