Hawks battle Boilermakers in Paradise Jam

E'Twaun Moore scored 22 points and dished out five assists against South Dakota State on Friday.

The seventh-ranked Purdue Boilermakers will attempt to avoid an upset tonight as they take on the Saint Joseph's Hawks in the semifinals of the Paradise Jam.

Saint Joseph's needed overtime to beat Drexel in the opener, and barely squeaked by Holy Cross in the second game of the season. For those reasons, the Hawks figured to struggled against Boston College on Friday night at this event, but they managed to knock off the Eagles by an 84-80 final. Heading into this season, the Hawks weren't considered by many to be one of the top teams in the Atlantic 10 Conference, but head coach Phil Martelli always finds a way to put his team in place to contend for the league title.

Purdue opened the season with an 89-64 romp over Cal State Northridge back on November 13th. The Boilermakers played just their second game of the campaign last night as part of this tournament, and they held off South Dakota State by a 74-63 final. Coach Matt Painter's Purdue team is not short on talent or experience, two reasons that the Boilermakers are threats not only to win the Big Ten, but also to reach the Final Four. ... Continue