Purdue escapes UT-Martin
Purdue escaped Monday night.
The Boilermakers held on for a 60-58 victory, beating a pesky UT-Martin squad that threatened an upset in the second round of the BTI Invitational in Mackey Arena.
Purdue (8-5) held a 59-55 lead late, rallying from down three earlier in the fourth, when Skyhawk Maddie Waldrop hit a three-pointer at the 1:15 mark. An Andreona Keys' free throw, after Purdue had gotten a key steal up only one, put the Boilermakers up 60-58. They held on after Janekia Mason's three-pointer at the buzzer, partially blocked by Ae'Rianna Harris, was well short.
"We defended it and we got away with a win," Keys said.
It wasn't always pretty.
The Boilermakers, though, found forward Ae'Rianna Harris enough to turn back the Skyhawks (4-7) in the last couple minutes. The sophomore was — by far — the best athlete on the floor, frequently forcing UT-Martin to surround her with three defenders as part of its 1-3-1 zone.
Still, Harris scored 20 points, on only nine field goals (she hit eight), with 13 rebounds and five blocks, including the game-winner.
"Coach mentioned they had three people around me," Harris said. "They had the guard behind me, (No.) 10 (Mason) was either trying to front or get around me and there was someone trying to sneak around from the backside. Skips, lockouts, sealing on the backside, that kind of stuff (to try to get me the ball), I wouldn't say it was creative, but using what you have."
Purdue, which had trailed by one at the half, took a 50-45 lead into the fourth quarter, after a third that saw the Boilermakers hit 10-of-13 shots, including three three-pointers. In a 70-second span of the third, Keys hit back-t0-back triples to stretch the margin to eight with three minutes to go in the quarter.
"I'm not one to take 50 threes, but if I'm open, I'm going to shoot it," said Keys, who was 2-of-4 from three-point range, after having only four makes previously this season. "I felt good after the first one, so I shot another one."
But UT-Martin took back the edge in the fourth, using a 15-4 run to go up three on Mason's three-point play at 7:33. But twice the Skyhawks missed three-pointers that would have stretched the lead to six, and Purdue responded. A 7-0 run by the Boilermakers, the last on Karissa McLaughlin's three-pointer, put them back on top, leading 59-55 with 2:28 left.
Purdue twice got stops in the final 30 seconds, the first when McLaughlin stole a pass through the lane and the second on Harris' block just before the buzzer. On the final play, UT-Martin was likely looking for guard Kendall Spray, who had hit six three-pointers, but she was blanketed by Lamina Cooper.
"We just didn't want to give up a three," Coach Sharon Versyp said. "If it went into overtime, we'd go to overtime. We talked about that, not playing help side and keeping hands up. They start penetrating, just stay between them and the basket. I think we got them out of what they were trying to do and thought we played good defense on the ball. I don't think they wanted to go to 10, but when they did we were able to get a hand on it."
Purdue shot 56.5 in the second half, bringing its average for the game to 43.6. But the Boilermakers committed 18 turnovers, including 12 in a first half that ended with them trailing 26-25. Purdue missed its first nine three-pointers, before hitting five of its final 10 vs. the UT-Martin zone.
Keys and McLaughlin both finished with 11 points, although they combined for 12 turnovers, while Oden scored 10 but on 4-of-15 shooting. Spray had 18 for the Skyhawks, while Mason added 15 and eight rebounds.
"I thought collectively the four quarters we were solid," Versyp said. "We made a couple turnovers here or there, but it's going against something we hadn't gone against (in the 1-3-1 zone), so we handled that well."
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