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No. 2 Purdue shakes off rust, advances past Cal St.-Fullerton

Cal State Fullerton v Purdue

DETROIT, MI - MARCH 16: Carsen Edwards #3 of the Purdue Boilermakers dunks the ball on a breakaway against the Cal State Fullerton Titans during the first half of the game in the first round of the 2018 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Little Caesars Arena on March 16, 2018 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

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It wasn’t pretty early.

The Boilermakers were coming off of a nearly-two week after the Big Ten tournament, and it looked like it for the first 16 minutes on Friday afternoon. No. 15 seed Cal St.-Fullerton held a lead midway through the first half and trailed the Boilermakers just 22-20 at the under four timeout.

And that’s when the No. 2-seed in the East Region turned things on.

By halftime, the lead was up to nine points. By the first TV timeout of the second half, Purdue was up 16. The game was over midway through the second half, the only thing in doubt whether or not Purdue covered the spread as they cruised to a 74-48 win.

Carsen Edwards and Vincent Edwards both finished with 15 points. P.J. Thompson added 11. The Boilermakers made six of their first nine threes in the second half and, most importantly, they shook off the rust that came with spending two weeks waiting to play without having to test themselves too much.

The win means that Purdue will advance to face the winner of No. 7 Arkansas and no. 10 Purdue