The beginning to a new year is always a time of great excitement and promise. So many things to look forward to and goals to achieve.
The Purdue Boilermakers and Minnesota Golden Gophers delivered on the promise of excitement with a double overtime thriller in Mackey Arena to get the year started Thursday.
Purdue was able to overcome a sometimes sloppy performance (15 turnovers, a season high) to secure its eighth win of the season, as neither team was able to build much of a lead throughout the game.
With less than a minute to play in regulation and down by three, it was Purdue's Sasha Stefanovic who nailed a corner three-pointer to send the game into its first extra period. Stefanovic would finish with 17 point on the evening. Center Trevion Williams would later hit a free throw to send the game into its second and final overtime session -- and hit a couple more from the charity stripe as the game neared its end to seal the win.
Williams would finish with 14 points, but it was Purdue's other big man, Matt Haarms, who led -- scoring a career-high 26 points and collecting nine rebounds off the bench. Eric Hunter chipped in 16 points and eight rebounds.
Minnesota's Marcus Carr scored 27 points, but had more turnovers (eight) than assists (five), while his teammate Daniel Oturu registered a double-double, scoring a game-high 29 and also pulling down 18 rebounds.
Matt Painter's squad improves to 8-5 on the season and will travel to play Illinois on Sunday.
