The Purdue Boilermakers, in their last game before they’re bound to fall from being ranked No. 1, came back with an energetic victory Sunday afternoon against North Carolina State, 82-72, at the Hall of Fame Invitational in Brooklyn, New York.
Purdue bounced back from their first loss of the season at Rutgers last Thursday.
Purdue (9-1) found itself in a 13-point deficit with nine minutes left in the game, but the Boilers steamed down the stretch and finished on a 20-6 run to force overtime.
It was in the extra period that the Boilermakers took their first lead of the game on a three-pointer by Sasha Stefanovic, 69-66, to open the overtime scoring. From there, it was all Purdue as they outscored the Wolfpack (7-3), 16-6, in overtime.
“We clearly played pretty poorly in that first really 35 minutes (of the game),” said Stefanovic after the game. “Then that last five to ten minutes I thought we really handled that adversity really well.”
Purdue’s Trevion Williams notched his third double-double in a row off the bench, this time with 22 points and 12 rebounds. The senior from Chicago also dished out nine assists, blocked four shots and had two steals. He was one assist away from achieving the first triple-double since Joe Barry Carroll in 1977.
Sophomore Jaden Ivey matched Williams’ scoring with 22 points. Stefanovic ended up with 12, all in the last five minutes of the second half and overtime.
Purdue missed its first seven shots from three-point range and came into the game ranked sixth in the nation in three-point percentage (41.9 percent).
The Boilers finished 5-for-21 (23.8 percent) from beyond the arc, their lowest number of made threes in a game and percentage.
Though the Boilers did not shoot well, they improved on the defensive end. Purdue forced 13 turnovers, blocked nine shots and had six steals.
Purdue improved to 3-0 against ACC opponents this season, the most wins vs. the ACC in a season in program history.
Purdue does not play again until it faces off against Butler in the Crossroads Classic in Indianapolis on Saturday. Tip-off is set for noon.