Purdue dances past NC State into NCAA national championship for the first time since 1969, as Boilermakers win 63-50 in Final Four behind 20 points from Zach Edey

Purdue has advanced to the men's national championship after beating NC State 63-50 in the Final Four.

Behind 20 points and 12 rebounds from AP Player of the Year Zach Edey, the Boilermakers called time on the Wolfpack's shock run to the national semifinal and set up a matchup vs. either UConn or Alabama on Monday.

NC State was led by 20 points from DJ Horne, while fan favorite DJ Burns Jr. labored his way to eight points.

Purdue's run comes a year after being stunned by No. 16 seed Fairleigh Dickinson in the opening round of March Madness.

Now, however, longtime coach Matt Painter is one win away from his first national championship. 

It's Purdue's first trip to the final game for the first time since 1969, while he program is in the Final Four for the first time since 1980.

Edey and coach Matt Painter´s team have swatted away every challenge so far. 

They did it this time despite a three-point night from their second-leading scorer, Braden Smith, who shot 1 for 9 (but finished with eight rebounds and six assists).

He wasn´t the only one who couldn´t buy a bucket. The NC State team that outscored Duke 55-37 after halftime in the Elite Eight shot 28.6 percent over the last 20 minutes this time - a cold spell that included open looks galore that simply would not fall.

It made for some ugly hoops. At one stretch early in the second half, the teams missed 10 straight shots between them.

For all Smith´s struggles, he put the final dagger in N.C. State´s season.

It came at the end of a stretch during which Horne shot an airball and Edey swatted N.C. State guard Jayden Taylor´s shot out of the paint, while on the other end, Fletcher Loyer and then Smith made back-to-back 3s.

Smith´s was part of an 8-0 run that pushed Purdue´s lead to 20. The only drama left was whether the Wolfpack would surpass their season low in scoring of 52 points. They did not.