PORTLAND, Ore. — Zach Edey scored 15 of his 23 points in the final 15 minutes, Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer each added 14, and No. 24 Purdue raced past No. 6 Gonzaga 84-66 on Friday night in the semifinals of the Phil Knight Legacy tournament.
Purdue’s 7-foot-4 center took over for stretches of the second half, but he had a pretty good supporting cast. Caleb Furst added 10 points, and Purdue shot 57 percent in the second half, made six of 11 3-point attempts and outrebounded the Bulldogs 46-31.
And Purdue had an answer for every run the Gonzaga tried to make.
Purdue (5-0) will play Duke in the championship game on Sunday, while the Bulldogs will face Xavier in the third-place game.
Purdue handed Gonzaga (4-2) a second loss in the month of November for the first time since 2010. The Bulldogs were 71-8 in November games since 2010 entering Friday.
Drew Timme led Gonzaga with 22 points and nine rebounds in his highly anticipated matchup with Edey. Nolan Hickman added 15 but the rest of Gonzaga’s role players were mostly absent at the offensive end. Julian Strawther had just four points. Malachi Smith, who had 23 points in the opening round win over Portland State, scored three.
Both teams exchanged eight-point leads in the first half, and it was Purdue leading 33-28 at the break.
Gonzaga pulled to 36-35 in the opening moments of the second half thanks to two baskets from Timme and 3 by Rasir Bolton. But the Boilermakers answered with 13 of the next 18 points. Edey scored in the paint twice and Newman’s 3-pointer coming off a screen pushed the Purdue lead to 49-40 and led Gonzaga coach Mark Few to burn a timeout.
Purdue eventually pushed the lead to 12 as Furst scored eight straight points with a free throw, a pair of dunks and a 3-pointer that gave the Boilermakers a 57-45 lead with 8:36 remaining.
Purdue’s lead eventually reached 20 in the final minute.
BIG PICTURE
Purdue: The Boilermakers have won 12 straight games in November and 18 straight regular season non-conference games dating to the 2020 season.
Gonzaga: The Bulldogs last two-loss November in 2010 had setbacks against San Diego State and a neutral site loss to Kansas State.
