Purdue's buzzer-beater proves costly to Gophers

The Boilermakers' Keaton Grant hit a 30-footer to end the first half, which was a sign of things to come.

By MYRON P. MEDCALF, Star Tribune

Last update: February 28, 2008 - 6:00 AM

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NO. 16 PURDUE 65, GOPHERS 53 Up next: 3 p.m. Saturday vs. Ohio State • Williams Arena • TV: ESPN (830-AM)

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WEST LAFAYETTE, IND. - In the last second of the first half, Purdue's Keaton Grant lofted a 30-foot shot. The trajectory seemed off but it went in and the No. 16 Boilermakers seized a three-point halftime lead.

Boilermakers fans -- shocked by a 15-2 Gophers run and temporary lead just before that -- got back into the game. Purdue (22-6, 13-2 Big Ten), after all, had a 16-1 record entering the game this season when leading at halftime.

The momentum from that shot carried over. Purdue held Minnesota scoreless for the first five minutes of the second half and never looked back in a 65-53 victory over the Gophers (17-10, 7-8) in front of an announced crowd of 13,815 at Mackey Arena.

Gophers senior center Spencer Tollackson, who finished with 10 points, said Grant's shot to end the first half took a lot out of the Gophers and negated a lot of their first-half energy.

"And then, when [Grant] hit that shot, it was kind of like, uh," Tollackson said. "It just kind of fell out of you. But we need to learn, when those things happen, how to bounce back."

Minnesota didn't. Although it ventured to Purdue seeking a signature victory, the Gophers' 35.8 percent shooting from the field and 20 turnovers didn't exactly set the table for an upset.

Purdue didn't wait for Minnesota to catch its breath in the second half when it took a 42-29 lead after two of E'Twaun Moore's game-high 22 points at 11:28 in the second half.

That 13-3 run to start the second half seemed to stifle the Gophers' game plan -- although at times, it didn't look as if they had one.

Gophers coach Tubby Smith said his team wasn't shocked by Purdue's quick second-half start. But the poise that helped them stay in the game against a heavily favored foe in the first half eluded the Gophers in the second, he said.

"I guess the pressure got to us," Smith said. "We just couldn't handle the pressure."

Grant's buzzer-beater in the first half signified everything that's worked in Purdue's favor and against Minnesota this season. That shot symbolized an unexpected string of success that's put Purdue in a three-way tie with Indiana and Wisconsin for the Big Ten lead.

Led by an aggressive first-half performance by senior Dan Coleman, who finished with 10 points and 13 rebounds, Minnesota bounced back from a 10-point deficit and went into halftime down 29-26.

Purdue capitalized on Minnesota's 11 first-half turnovers and jumped to a 19-9 lead. But the Gophers didn't lay down this time.

They responded with a 15-2 run of their own and took a 24-21 lead after Tollackson cut to the lane and scored off a Coleman pass. But the Boilermakers responded by finishing the first half with an 8-2 run, punctuated by Grant's long-range shot.

In the second half, as Purdue continued to apply its notorious in-your-face defense, the Gophers made more mistakes and turnovers. And that's what they couldn't afford to do against the Boilermakers, said senior guard Lawrence McKenzie.

"If you want to win a game at somebody's house, at somebody's arena, you've got to do the little things right," said McKenzie, who finished with 13 points. "You can't miss out on the small things; you've got to do everything right."

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