STATE COLLEGE — Fans stormed the court in Happy Valley as the Penn State men’s basketball team earned its first win over a top-10 team since 2019 and the Nittany Lions took down #8/7 Purdue, 81-70, in Thursday night’s Big Ten opener inside the Bryce Jordan Center.

Penn State earned its first win over a team ranked in the top 10 of the AP Poll since Dec. 10, 2019. The Nittany Lions now own three top-15 wins under second-year head coach Mike Rhoades. Penn State improves to 8-1 on the season for the first time since the 2014-15 campaign.

Penn State led Purdue by as much as 27, forcing a season-high 24 turnovers out of the guard-heavy Boilermakers. The Nittany Lions scored 32 points off turnovers and shot 48.9% from the field. Penn State added 28 points from the free throw line while shooting 87.5% from the charity stripe.

Ace Baldwin Jr. led five Nittany Lions in double figures and tallied game-high marks of 17 points and six assists. Freddie Dilione V scored 14 points, while Puff Johnson had 13 points, five rebounds and four steals.

Nick Kern Jr. tallied 12 points, a game-high eight rebounds, three assists and three steals, while Zach Hicks chipped in 11 points.

The Boilermakers took a quick 5-0 lead just over three minutes into the game before Puff Johnson capitalized on a second-chance opportunity and Freddie Dilione V had a steal and score to put the score at 5-4 at the first media timeout.

A Zach Hicks triple knotted the score at 7-7 at the 15:03 mark before the Nittany Lion defense was the catalyst behind an 11-0 run. Penn State forced seven Purdue turnovers while holding the Boilermakers scoreless for a 5:08 stretch as the Nittany Lions pulled ahead 18-9 with 9:48 left in the first half.

Penn State put its lead into double digits for the first time following Hicks’ second trey of the game at the 8:25 mark. The Boilermakers were within seven at 25-18 two minutes later, but Yanic Konan Niederhauser answered with back-to-back buckets and Hicks added a jumper to force a Purdue timeout at 3:43 as Penn State extended its lead to 31-18.

A Dilione V 3-pointer in the final 30 seconds gave Penn State a 16-point lead, 40-24, heading into the locker room as the Nittany Lions wrapped up the first half having scored 15 points off of 13 Purdue turnovers and holding the Boilers to a 40.0 ield goal percentage.

The Nittany Lions owned a 45-32 edge three minutes into the second half before Penn State exploded on a 13-2 run over a five-minute stretch. Johnson was the spark, contributing seven points, as Penn State’s lead reached 24 at 58-34 with 12 minutes left on the clock.

Penn State 81, Purdue 70

PURDUE (7-2, 0-1 BIG TEN)

Trey Kaufman-Renn 5-8 4-7 15; Camden Heide 0-2 0-0 0; Fletcher Loyer 3-10 8-8 15; Braden Smith 3-5 0-0 6; Myles Colvin 2-3 0-0 6; Gicarri Harris 2-5 0-0 5; Caleb Furst 1-1 0-0 2; C.J. Cox 5-8 0-2 12; Raleigh BUrgess 2-4 0-0 4; Will Berg 0-0 0-0 0; Brian Waddell 1-1 2-2 5. Totals 24-47 14-19 70.

PENN STATE (8-1, 1-0 BIG TEN)

Yanic Knoan Niederhauser 2-3 2-3 6; Zach Hicks 3-6 3-4 11; Ace Baldwin Jr. 2-5 12-12 17; Freddie Dilione 6-11 0-0 14; Puff Johnson 4-9 4-4 13; Kachi Nzeh 0-1 0-0 0; D’Marco Dunn 1-3 3-4 6; Nick Kern 4-6 4-5 12; Dominick Stewart 0-1 0-0 0; Jahvin Carter 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 23-47 28-32 81.

Halftime: Penn State, 40-24. 3-point goals: Purdue 8-21 (Colvin 2-3, Cox 2-5, Waddell 1-1, Loyer 1-4, Harris 1-3, Kaufman-Renn 1-1, Smith 0-1, Heide 0-1, Burgess 0-2), PSU 7-18 (Hicks 2-5, Dilione V 2-3, Dunn 1-2, Johnson 1-5, Baldwin Jr. 1-3). Fouled out: Purdue-none; PSU-none. Rebounds: Purdue 27 (Loyer 4, Berg 4), PSU 27 (Kern 8). Assists: Purdue 17 (Smith 5), PSU 14 (Baldwin Jr. 6). Technical fouls: Purdue-coach; PSU-Baldwin. Total fouls: Purdue 22, PSU 20. A: 8,802.