National Basketball Association
Purdue 72, Minnesota 68
When: 3:15 PM ET, Wednesday, December 31, 2014
Where: Mackey Arena, West Lafayette, Indiana
Officials:
# Mike Eades, # Tom Eades, # Terry Wymer
Attendance:
10018
By SportsDirect Inc.
Purdue 72, Minnesota 68: Kendall Stephens knocked down four 3-pointers en route to 19 points as the Boilermakers took over down the stretch and turned away the Golden Gophers in the Big Ten opener for both teams.
Rapheal Davis went 10-of-10 from the free-throw line and finished with 18 points for Purdue (9-5), which snapped a three-game slide. A.J. Hammons collected 11 points and nine rebounds and Jon Octeus scored 10 for the Boilermakers.
Maurice Walker and Joey King scored 13 points apiece to lead Minnesota (11-3), which had an eight-game winning streak come to an end. Nate Mason scored 12 points off the bench, DeAndre Mathieu had 11 and Carlos Morris collected 10 points and five assists for the Gophers.
Morris’ jumper gave Minnesota a 55-44 lead before Stephens highlighted an 18-3 run with back-to-back 3-pointers to help give Purdue a 62-58 lead with just under four minutes left. The Gophers battled back to tie but the Boilermakers went back up 66-63 on Octeus’ hoop and Davis helped close it out with four points in the final 19 seconds.
Minnesota held Purdue without a field goal for 6 1/2 minutes in the first half to grab a 19-10 lead and pushed it out to 24-12 on Andre Hollins’ 3-pointer before settling for a 36-25 cushion at the break. Morris’ basket opening the second half made it a 13-point gap before the Boilermakers ripped off an 11-1 burst to cut it to 39-36 with a little less than 15 1/2 minutes to play.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Minnesota had scored at least 84 points in each of the previous seven games. … The Gophers came in leading the nation with an average of 20.2 assists and handed out 15 on 23 field goals against Purdue. … Davis’ effort led the Boilermakers to a 22-of-27 effort at the line.
Top Game Performances
| Minnesota |
|
Purdue |
|
Joey King 13 |
Scoring |
Kendall Stephens 19 |
|
Carlos Morris 5 |
Assists |
Rapheal Davis 4 |
|
Maurice Walker 7 |
Rebounds |
A.J. Hammons 9 |
|
Carlos Morris 4 |
Free Throws Made |
Rapheal Davis 10 |
|
Maurice Walker 3 |
Steals |
A.J. Hammons 1 |
|
Joey King 2 |
Blocks |
Isaac Haas 1 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| Minnesota
|
68 |
43.4 |
8-16 |
14-20 |
15 |
28 |
3 |
6 |
13 |
| Purdue
|
72 |
44.2 |
4-11 |
22-27 |
20 |
31 |
3 |
3 |
12 |
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