INDIANAPOLIS — Losing two point guards less than three minutes into the game might have been a sign that it wasn't Michigan State's day.
Tyson Walker was the first to go down, rolling his left ankle while racing down the court. A.J. Hoggard was next, though he returned to the game and nearly led a remarkable second-half comeback.
Instead, Michigan State's run at the Big Ten tournament ended on Saturday as No. 3 seed Purdue built a double-digit lead then hit big shot after big shot down the stretch to hold of the seventh-seeded Spartans, 75-70, to advance to Sunday's championship game against Iowa.
The Spartans fell behind by 13 in the second half but rallied to trail by just one before the Boilermakers regained control in the final five minutes to secure the victory.
Hoggard scored 17 and had 10 assists for the Spartans (22-12), who were playing in the Big Ten tournament semifinals for the 16th time in the 25-year history of the event. Gabe Brown added 16 points while Marcus Bingham was limited to nine after his career game on Friday.
Jaden Ivey scored 22 to lead Purdue (27-6) while Trevion Williams had 15 and Zach Edey scored 11. Eric Hunter and Mason Gillis each scored 10 for the Boilermakers, who had 15 offensive rebounds and scored 22 second-chance points.
While it was Edey who dominated in the middle the first time the teams met, on Saturday it was Williams who was too much to handle for the Spartans. He scored all seven of his first-half points in a nearly four-minute stretch as the Boilermakers were able to keep pace with some early success from the Spartans, taking a 13-11 lead with 10 minutes left in the half.
After a lob pass to Bingham, Purdue started to take over, getting two 3-pointers and six points from Edey to go on a 12-1 run and build its biggest lead of the half, 25-14, with five minutes to play.
Michigan State chipped away, even with Walker out and Hoggard hobbled, pulling within 27-20 and getting a chance to cut the deficit even more. But Brown misfired on an open 3-pointer as the Boilermakers took the seven-point lead to the locker room.
Purdue took control early in the second half, extending its lead to 43-30 on a jump hook from Williams with just more than five minutes gone. But Michigan State showed some life from there, scoring six in a row to trim the Boilermakers' lead to seven with 13:32 left in the game.
A Max Christie 3-pointer later got Michigan State within three and after pulling to 49-43, the Spartans got a jumper from Malik Hall and a lob pass and dunk to Julius Marble to make it 49-47 with 9:30 to play. A 3-pointer from Gillis was answered by a Hoggard layup before Gillis put Purdue up 54-49 with a pair of free throws with 7:51 to play.
The Spartans eventually pulled within 57-56 after a Hoggard layup and a Brown 3-pointer. But Purdue answered with back-to-back 3-pointers from Hunter to extend the lead to 63-56 with 4:23 to play.
The Boilermakers eventually extended the lead to 10 and closed out the Spartans over the final two minutes.
