Boilermakers steal one at the end for biggest road win of the year
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Freshman Carsen Edwards — repeat, freshman — stepped to the line, staring into the sea of red that was Maryland's raucous student section.
He'd just tied the game for Purdue with 2.1 seconds left, after drawing a foul off a well-executed set that got the ball in the hands of the youngster with a chance to get toward the basket, which he did, drawing a foul.
The Terrapins — the Big Ten's standard-bearer in their ability to win games just like these — took a timeout, mostly to discuss strategy off a make or miss, the ice-the-freshman factor serving just as value added.
Edwards stepped to that line, whirled the ball around his hips just like he's done before free throws ever since he was in third grade, he said.
"It was so loud," Edwards said after. "I was really nervous."
You'd not have known it from a distance.
It's not like the dynamic young guard, though, Purdue has learned, to be fazed by such things, and he wasn't.
He made the free throw — dead center, no rim. No. 23 Purdue led 17th-ranked and 20-2 Maryland 73-72 with about two seconds left, two of just 59 that the Boilermakers would lead on this day.
But those two seconds were a doozy. With no hope, Maryland heaved the ball down the floor, right to Boilermaker center Isaac Haas. Game over. Nope. Haas took a step with the ball before the full 2.1 had expired. Traveling.
Suddenly with hope, albeit just a glimmer, Maryland inbounded and did the absolute best it could with a half second to work with. Kevin Huerter's three from the corner missed.
And so Purdue won, earning a win that now probably supplants all prior for the title of "best of the season."
This was a new one.
Again, Purdue led for less than a minute. It also looked to have lost this game on multiple occasions.
"It took everybody," guard P.J. Thompson said. "The whole team, the staff. We got down 12 on the road in arguably the toughest environment in the Big Ten and we held it together. I think we had really good leadership … and it kept us all together."
Purdue trailed by four with a minute and 40 seconds left.
Caleb Swanigan, though, buried a three from the top of the arc in response. He scored 26 with 10 rebounds on the day before fouling out in the final minute.
Melo Trimble and Haas traded pair of free throws — those two free throws by Haas mustn't be forgotten amidst his late travel and a costly technical foul earlier — and then Purdue generated a stop on Trimble and rebounded the miss. That set up the drama to close a wild game.
Purdue trailed 72-71 as Edwards looked to attack the basket before Matt Painter called timeout from the sideline. Coming out of said timeout, with Swanigan out of the game, Painter went to the rookie, maybe Purdue's best guard at creating for himself and making something out of nothing when need be.
"If you get stuck," Painter said, "you'd rather have the ball in his hands."
Edwards in-bounded to Vincent Edwards, who handed back to Edwards, darting left to right. Edwards turned toward the basket.
"Getting all the way to the rim was the biggest part," Swanigan said.
The freshman didn't settle for a tough pull-up. He drove deep, ultimately drawing a bump from Justin Jackson.
He made both.
"He's a big-shot-taker and a big-shot-maker," Swanigan said. "That's the way he's always been."
Purdue needed it today, but it needed everyone, really.
Purdue trailed by a dozen with less than 14 minutes left after a disastrous stretch early in the second half, but used an 11-0 run - two Ryan Cline threes and another from Dakota Mathias - to turn the game on its side.
"We were bad defensively and they just missed three open shots," Painter said of the run. "They just missed. It wasn't our defense. We were very fortunate."
Purdue found itself defensively — that's been an issue in close games — when it absolutely had to.
Maryland's last field goal of the day came with 7:37 left to play.
Purdue stole one Saturday, winning a game it led for less than a minute.
It overcame a nine-point first-half deficit and won after being down a dozen after halftime.
"Just keep fighting, that was our M.O. today, that and come in waves," Swanigan said. "They had some runs, but we just had to answer each one."
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