Purdue advances to the second round after pulling away from High Point in the second half.
The name of the game is to survive and advance, and the Boilermakers did just that on Thursday afternoon, knocking off Big South regular season and tournament champ High Point 75 – 63. Trey Kaufman-Renn and Braden Smith combined for 41 points to lead the Boilermakers, and Cam Heide provided 11 points off the bench to help Purdue secure the victory. High Point was led in scoring by D’Maurian Williams with 12 points. The Panthers finish the season with a 20-7 record.
The game started as a back-and-forth affair, with both teams hot early. Braden Smith came out looking to force the action after getting bottled up in the Big Ten Tournament and had seven points by the 15-minute mark in the first half. Whenever it looked like Purdue was about to put on a run and pull away, the Panthers found a bucket at the opportune moment. In the first ten minutes of the game, they scored 17 points, with 15 coming from either a 3-pointer or three free throws from a foul on a 3-pointer.
The game was tied 20-20 at the 10-minute point of the first half, but Purdue started slowly pulling away down the stretch while avoiding their trademark end-of-the-half nosedive. Trey Kaufman-Renn, in particular, had a stretch between 6:36 and 4:21 where he scored six points to help push Purdue to the lead. The half ended on a Braden Smith to Will Berg lob tip as time expired, and Matt Painters’ crew took a ten-point lead into the half.
High Point came out swinging in the second half and let Purdue know it had no intentions of going away. A Trea Brenham three at the 16:16 mark trimmed Purdue’s lead to five points and firmly secured the Panthers’ momentum. This game had the requisite components for an upset, but Purdue’s experienced roster refused to cooperate. A Simon Hildebrandt cut the lead to five at the 11:47 mark for High Point. Purdue would score 7 points over the next minute and a half to push the lead back out to ten, but the thirteen-seed refused to go away. A Julin Bodo Bodo dunk with 7:47 on the clock cut the lead to 59-56, and you could hear the remotes clicking and everyone tuned in to see another Purdue upset.
The Boilermakers left the viewing people wanting today, however. The Purdue Big Three of Smith, TKR, and Loyer scored 13 of Purdue’s last 16 points, and High Point couldn’t answer. Purdue leaned on their experience and All-American down the stretch and came away with a 12-point lead that doesn’t indicate how competitive most of this game was.
The Boilermakers await the winner of the Clemson vs McNeese game currently on truTV.