No. 3 seed Purdue defeated No. 2 seed Tennessee 99-94 in overtime in a South Regional semifinal to advance to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2000.
Purdue had a commanding lead throughout most of the game and appeared to be on the way to an easy victory. The Boilermakers had an 18-point lead in the second half before Tennessee went on a 32-14 run to tie the game at 65 with more than six minutes left.
With the score tied at 80, the Vols' Grant Williams slammed home a miss by Lamonte Turner with 8 seconds remaining to give Tennessee a 82-80 lead.
GRANT. WILLIAMS. 😱
— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) March 29, 2019
VOLS UP 2!!!#MarchMadness | #Sweet16 pic.twitter.com/2KoJakYEix
On Purdue's possession, Carsen Edwards was fouled on a 3-point attempt with 1.7 seconds left and went to the line to try and win the game in regulation. However, Edwards only hit two of three free throws and the game went to overtime.
Purdue pulled away in the extra session, taking a 91-84 lead on a dunk by Matt Haarms with 1:38 remaining.
Tennessee took the lead at 70-67 for the team's first lead since 3-2. And right after that, Purdue senior Ryan Cline caught fire from downtown. Cline hit four 3-pointers in the last five-and-a-half minutes of regulation, with all of them coming when Purdue was down two or three points. None was more important than his impressive step-back with 36.4 seconds to tie the game at 80.
"YOU'VE GOT TO LOVE IT!"@BoilerBall answers to tie it up!#MarchMadness | #Sweet16 pic.twitter.com/BKleqNLttt
— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) March 29, 2019
"Our guys hung in there," Purdue coach Matt Painter said. "It was one of those games where, you know, getting key stops was important and I know it was a high scoring game. But it was tough to get them and I thought at the very end, especially in overtime, we got key loose balls, long rebounds and ended up being the difference in the game."
Cline finished with a career-high 27 points and tied his career-high with seven 3-pointers. Edwards continued his trend of putting up huge numbers in the NCAA Tournament, scoring 29 points in the win. Edwards is now averaging 32.3 points per game through three games.
For Tennessee, Williams and Admiral Schofield each had 21 points. Schofield scored 20 of his points in the second half and overtime.
Purdue will take on the winner of Virginia vs. Oregon in the South Regional final on Saturday,
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