Gritty final seven minutes help Purdue avoid upset

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Spike Albrecht showed grit to snatch away two possessions despite being athletically overmatched by Jeremy Hollowell.

Caleb Swanigan locked into a helping role and found teammates for back-to-back baskets.

Isaac Haas fended off swiping arms and bumping bodies to get to the free throw and cash in.

Dakota Mathias snapped a team-wide shooting slump from the perimeter to drill a pair of three-pointers.

Vincent Edwards sacrificed his body in help defense to absorb contact in the lane.

P.J. Thompson didn’t hesitate to let a long three-pointer fly in the final minute despite missing his first five attempts.

Purdue needed a bevy of players to rise up in crunch time Friday against upset-minded Georgia State. And it got plenty of responses during a pivotal 20-0 run to close a 64-56 comeback victory, allowing the 14,000-plus fans to release their collective breath on the way out of Mackey Arena.

The No. 15 Boilermakers (2-1) avoided what would have been a devastating non-conference loss — the type they’ve become a bit familiar with over the last decade at the hands of Wofford, Gardner-Webb and North Florida.

“It was huge, obviously,” Mathias said of being able to finish the game out. “Give them a lot of credit. They’re a good team. Everybody is good at this level. That’s the thing we’ve got to learn. You can’t take anybody lightly. They’re Division I players like we are. So we’ve got to bring it every night. To be able to win like this and show the fight we did, we have to continue this into Cancun.”

Not surprisingly, the “fight” showed up when Purdue turned up its defense.

Through the first 13 minutes of the second half, Georgia State (1-2) made 10-of-16 shots to take a 56-44 lead. But Malik Benlevi’s putback off a weakside rebound at 7:14 left was the last time the Panthers scored in the game.

At all.

On their next possession, Edwards came over in help defense and took a charge. On the next, Albrecht got matched up with IU transfer Hollowell on a switch, but Albrecht got scrappy and poked the ball away in the paint. On the next, Georgia State missed two free throws. On the next, Edwards got beat off the dribble, but Hollowell missed from point-blank range, got the offensive rebound but then Georgia State traveled with Albrecht in D’Marcus Simonds’ grill. On the next, Georgia State missed a three, and the rebound went off the Panthers. On the next, Swanigan helped after Albrecht got beat off the dribble, forcing a missed shot. Then, there was a travel. Then Hollowell got Albrecht again on a switch and drove hard to the rim — but Albrecht got the charge when Hollowell was called for a push-off.

“I knew he was going to go straight bully ball and take me down to the post, so I just tried to guess it and draw the charge,” Albrecht said of the second of two dynamic plays.

Possession after possession after possession, Purdue’s defense rose to the occasion.

Not surprisingly, that produced a spark on offense.

Swanigan got deep into the post but, somehow, wrapped a pass around a double team to find Mathias on the opposite wing for a three-pointer. Haas got super deep position in the post, and Swanigan fed him, also from the post, for a basket. Albrecht’s strip of Hollowell led to a breakaway dunk — and a three-point play — for Basil Smotherman. Swanigan went high-low with Haas, who got fouled and sunk two free throws. Haas got held off the ball and sunk two more. Haas returned the favor when Swanigan slipped to the rim after a post feed and got fouled, and Swanigan’s free throw gave Purdue a 57-56 lead with 3:08 left.

“I was telling coach (to) let me move around in the zone because if I catch it, I knew I’d be able to find someone and set them up for a shot,” said Swanigan, who finished with 19 points, 11 rebounds and three crucial assists. “That’s what Isaac kept getting fouled. There was nothing they could do. I was just going to wait, act like I was looking for someone else and then they were jumping around, and I would just throw it over the top to him.”

Mathias’ second three-pointer with just under two minutes to play boosted the lead to four — he took a look inside first, but with Georgia State sagging off, he took a quick dribble to get into rhythm and drilled the shot from the wing.

Thompson’s three off a feed from Albrecht about a minute later made it 64-56.

“The two threes sealed the game, obviously, but our defense in the past two games in the last 10 minutes of the game has been really good,” Coach Matt Painter said. “Previous game, they made 10 free throws in the last, I think, three minutes of that game. So in terms of making field goals, we’ve been able to close games out and play a lot better defensively.

“It was pretty impressive — obviously you’re not impressed by the position you put yourself in and you’ve got to give Georgia State a lot of credit. They deserved to win this game without question. You also have to give our guys credit, we hung in there and made some plays.”

Now Purdue heads to Cancun in much better shape — with a victory instead of a shocking loss.

“We definitely don’t want to suffer a loss this early,” Albrecht said. “But they’re a really good team. But we’ll definitely grow from this and learn from it. We’ll go back and watch the film and see what we can get better.

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