Loyer scores 19 points as No. 18 Purdue beats No. 11 Nebraska 74-58 in Big Ten tourney

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Loyer scores 19 points as No. 18 Purdue beats No. 11 Nebraska 74-58 in Big Ten tourney

2026-03-14 11:22 Last Updated At：11:30

CHICAGO (AP) — Fletcher Loyer scored 19 points, Braden Smith collected 10 more assists and No. 18 Purdue beat No. 11 Nebraska 74-58 on Friday night in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals.

C.J. Cox and Oscar Cluff each had 12 points for the Boilermakers, and Trey Kaufman-Renn finished with 10 points and nine rebounds.

Smith set a Big Ten Tournament record and matched a career high with 16 assists in an 81-68 victory over Northwestern on Thursday. The senior guard needs 22 more assists to break Bobby Hurley's NCAA record of 1,076 in 140 games for Duke from 1989-93.

Purdue (25-8) advanced to the Big Ten semifinals for the fourth time in the last five years, bouncing back nicely after closing the regular season with four losses in six games. It will play UCLA on Saturday after the surprising Bruins held off No. 8 Michigan State for an 88-84 win.

Pryce Sandford scored 15 points for Nebraska, which dropped to 6-14 all-time in the Big Ten tourney. Rienk Mast finished with 11.

Nebraska (26-6) went 10 for 31 from 3-point range and 12 for 25 from inside the arc.

The Cornhuskers trailed 48-30 with 17 minutes left, but they trimmed the deficit to 58-50 on Cale Jacobsen’s driving layup with 6:53 remaining.

The Boilermakers responded with a 14-2 run, capped by Loyer’s 3 and a dunk by Cluff with 3:26 to go. Cox also connected from long range during the decisive stretch.

Purdue beat Nebraska 80-77 in overtime in their regular-season meeting on Feb. 10. Kaufman-Renn grabbed a career-high 19 rebounds in the victory, helping the Boilermakers to a 54-37 advantage on the glass.

Purdue enjoyed a 37-29 rebounding advantage this time around, and outscored Nebraska 26-18 in the paint.

Purdue lost 69-67 at UCLA on Jan. 20, snapping a nine-game win streak for the Boilermakers.

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Goncalves scores in OT, Lightning beat Canadiens to force Game 7

MONTREAL (AP) — Gage Goncalves scored off his own rebound at 9:03 of overtime and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Montreal Canadiens 1-0 on Friday night to force a Game 7 in the first-round series.

Goncalves scored soon after the Lightning killed scoring star Nikita Kucherov's penalty for tripping Alexandre Carrier.

“It was thrilling. It was epic,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “It was goaltenders making extraordinary saves, players doing things that were of grace and skill and magic. And there was intensity. There were hits. It was everything. And there wasn’t a goal scored, yet everybody in the building was on the edge of their seats.”

Game 7 is Sunday in Tampa. The Lightning are trying to avoid a fourth consecutive first-round exit, while the Canadiens are chasing their first series victory in five years.

The series winner will face Buffalo. The Sabres wrapped up their series with Boston in six games Friday night with a 4-1 road victory

Andrei Vasilevskiy made 30 saves for Tampa Bay for his eighth career playoff shutout.

“I didn’t have much emotions,” Vasilevskiy said. “I mean for the fans it was probably a roller-coaster, but for me it was pretty even.”

Jakub Dobes stopped 32 shots for Montreal. The first three games of the series also went to overtime.

The game was the second in three days to go to overtime scoreless, with Philadelphia beating Pittsburgh 1-0 on Wednesday night to end that series in six games. Before the season, the last 0-0 playoff game in regulation was in 2021.

“It was an amazing game of hockey. I think the two teams played their best game of the series,” Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said. “This is probably one of the best games I’ve seen this young group play. You’ve just got to embrace the situation.”

Dobes and the Canadiens survived a flurry of shots on a late power play. The Lightning got the man advantage after Ivan Demidov broke in on Vasilevskiy, failed to score and was called for goalie interference.

Late in the second — with the Lightning’s Charle-Edouard D’Astous off for slashing Phillip Danault — Vasilevskiy stopped Demidov twice from close range.

“I think we found out we’ve got the best goalie in the world. I think we already knew that, but he was incredible,” Lightning forward Brandon Hagel said. “That’s just one thing off your mind. You don’t have to worry about that big guy back there.:

Tampa Bay had a power-play chance early in the third after Kaiden Guhle was called for slashing Jake Guentzel. On the Lightning’s best chance, Nikita Kucherov fired a shot off the post.

Montreal had only one shot on goal on a power play to start the second period with Guentzel off for high-sticking Guhle with 11 seconds left in the first.

Danault kept it scoreless a few minutes later when he swept the puck away before it could cross the goal line. Montreal then killed Alexandre Texier’s high-sticking penalty.

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl