NEW YORK -- The clock finally struck midnight for the Cinderella story of the Big Ten Tournament.
Playing the late game in the Big Ten tourney for the third night in a row, Rutgers ran out of gas in an 82-75 quarterfinals loss Friday before 14,530 mostly Scarlet-clad fans at Madison Square Garden.
In arguably the biggest game a Rutgers team has played over the last 20 years, the Scarlet Knights delivered a valiant effort for 34 minutes.
But Purdue showed why it has been ranked among the nation's top 15 teams throughout the season, throttling Rutgers in the waning minutes behind the heroics of Carsen Edwards and Vincent Edwards (who each scored 26 points).