Boilers break up Obama’s bracket

Associated Press

SPOKANE, WASH.

Purdue played the us-against-the-world game to open the NCAA tournament.

Us won.

“You got the president picking against you, so it’s a different thing,” Boilermakers senior Keaton Grant said of the national chorus— including Barack Obama — who expected 13th-seeded Siena to beat the Boilermakers because Robbie Hummel is out. “We were very aware, and just used it as motivation.”

Grant, who became a starter after the do-it-all Hummel blew out his knee three weeks ago, ignited a decisive, 20-3 run with 11 points to begin the second half. That opened up the inside for teammate JaJuan Johnson’s 23 points and rallied the fourth-seeded Boilermakers past previous giant-killer Siena 72-64 on Friday in the first round of the South Regional.

Johnson, the tallest player on either team at 6-foot-10, tied his career high with 15 rebounds and E’Twaun Moore added 12 points for the Boilermakers (28-5).

Then they let off some steam, in the direction of the White House and seemingly everyone else’s house in a country that predicted the Saints (27-7) would pull a first-round upset in the third consecutive NCAA tournament.

Take that, Mr. President!

“I think the biggest thing was for me when President Obama just said he kind of felt sorry for us, just everything we been through and with this team and the adversity we face,” said sophomore Lewis Jackson, who made key free throws in the final minute. “Guys don’t want people to feel sorry for us. We want to prove that we still have a lot of talent and can make a big run in the tournament.”

Edwin Ubiles scored 18 points for Siena, which came from 15 points down to pull within 66-63 on a layup by Ryan Rossiter with 62 seconds left.

Saints coach Fran McCaffery then chose to foul Jackson, who had airballed a shot and missed a free throw seconds earlier, rather than play defense.

“It was because his previous free throw just didn’t look good at all,” McCaffery said. “So we went back at him.”