Purdue outlasts Tennessee in OT
Carsen Edwards scored 29 points as Purdue advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2000, needing overtime to beat Tennessee 99-94 Thursday night after blowing an 18-point lead in Nashville.
The third-seeded Boilermakers (26-9) will play either top-seeded Virginia or No. 12 seed Oregon on Saturday in the South Regional final for their first trip to the Final Four since 1980.
Purdue is in a regional final for the fifth time, but first with coach Matt Painter, who had gotten the team to the round of 16 four times previously.
The co-Big Ten champs needed a pair of free throws by Edwards with 1.7 seconds left in regulation to send the game to overtime after the star guard was fouled shooting a 3.
Grant Williams’ dunk with 8.8 seconds left had Tennessee (31-6) on the verge of the Vols’ second Elite Eight berth all-time. But Edwards then was fouled by Lamonte' Turner on a corner jumper. Purdue’s all-time leading scorer in the NCAA Tournament missed his first attempt, but tied it at 82.
It was Tennessee’s second straight overtime game in this tournament. The Vols blew a 25-point lead to Iowa in the second round, but recovered to win it in OT. The last team to blow consecutive overtime games in the NCAA Tournament was Florida in 2011. The Gators beat BYU and lost to Butler.
Matt Haarms hit a free throw to open overtime, and Purdue scored nine of the first 11 points.
Ryan Cline finished with a career-high 27 points, shooting 7 for 10 from 3-point range, before fouling out in OT for Purdue. Haarms and Nojel Eastern each had 11.
Williams and Admiral Schofield scored 21 apiece for Tennessee. Jordan Bowden had 16, Turner 15 and Jordan Bone 15.
CBI
South Florida 56, Loyola Marymount 47: Alexis Yetna scored 11 points as host South Florida beat Loyola Marymount in the semifinals of the College Basketball Invitational. David Collins had 11 points for South Florida (22-13).
Neither team was able to get much going offensively in the first half, heading to the locker room at the half tied at 22-22. South Florida outscored Loyola Marymount (22-12) by a margin of 34-25 in the second half.
ELSEWHERE
Saint Joseph’s: Saint Joseph’s plucked Billy Lange off the Philadelphia 76ers bench to become the new head coach. Lange had served on coach Brett Brown’s staff since 2013 and the Sixers will lose their top assistant with the playoffs looming and with the team an Eastern Conference championship contender. He worked one final game for the Sixers when they played the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday. Lange replaced Phil Martelli, fired last week after a 24-year run that included one Elite Eight in the 2003-04 season when the Hawks reached No. 1 in the AP Top 25.