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Purdue outlasts Memphis to win Baha Mar opener

On3 imageby: Brian Neubert3 hours agobrianneubert
Purdue's CJ Cox
Purdue's CJ Cox (Chad Krockover)

NASSAU, Bahamas — It wasn’t pretty — quite the opposite, really — but No. 1 Purdue showed some mettle Thursday in the Bahamas, taking repeated punches from Memphis before finally separating en route to a 80-71 Baha Mar Championship win.

The Boilermakers trailed the Tigers with 6:38 to play, but responded with 10 straight — five from CJ Cox — to finally pull away in what was an ultra-physical, often-chippy frenzy of whistles. Memphis missed eight consecutive shots in the closing minutes, Purdue shoring up its rebounding when it needed to, but still allowing the Tigers to hang around with fouls and turnovers. Memphis ended up having made just two of its last 15 shots, one of the makes being a layup off a turnover.

PDF: Purdue-Memphis statistics

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PURDUE COACH MATT PAINTER

PURDUE PLAYERS

Cox scored 18 points, including several of the game’s biggest plays. Fletcher Loyer scored 20 points despite a slow shooting start. Trey Kaufman-Renn fouled out with 12 and 11 rebounds.

An ugly, physical first half that saw both teams hold meaty leads ended with Braden Smith banking in a buzzer-beating three to put the heavy favorites up 36-35 after a four-point Memphis possession, the result of both common and technical fouls on Trey Kaufman-Renn, who finished the half with 10 points and nine rebounds, but also three fouls. Prior to Smith’s three, Purdue was just 3-of-13 from long range.

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