No. 2 Purdue edges No. 7 Tennessee to reach Maui final

Fletcher Loyer scored 27 points and Zach Edey added 23 points and 10 boards as No. 2 Purdue advanced to the Maui Invitational championship game with a 71-67 win over No. 7 Tennessee on Tuesday night in Honolulu.

Loyer and Edey combined for 50 of Purdue's 71 points, with Loyer, a sophomore, tying his career high. Trey Kaufman-Renn contributed eight points and eight rebounds on for the Boilermakers (5-0).

Tennessee (4-1) was led by Dalton Knecht, who logged 16 points and a team-high seven rebounds. Justin Gainey scored 15 points.

Purdue, which trailed by nine points in the first half, never fell behind in the second half. However, Tennessee tied the score three times after the break, the last time on Gainey's 3-pointer with 3:07 to play.

The Boilermakers scored the next six points, and Braden Smith's jumper with 56 seconds left put Purdue up 70-64.

Knecht halved the deficit by hitting a 3-pointer with 14 seconds left, but Lance Jones sealed the outcome by making 1 of 2 free throws with 12 seconds to go.

It was a tightly contested and physical first half, with Tennessee hitting 37 percent of its field-goal attempts and Purdue making just 20 percent.

Loyer scored 17 points before halftime, going 7-for-8 from the free-throw line to offset 4-of-13 shooting from the floor. Knecht scored 13 in the opening half and led the Volunteers to a 31-30 lead at the break.

The game in part was defined by the officials. There were a total of 52 personal fouls called, 31 on the Volunteers.

The fouls played a key role in many ways, including both Jonas Aidoo and Tobe Awaka fouling out for the Volunteers and Edey playing just 26 minutes while finishing with four fouls.

Purdue went just 29-for-48 (60.4 percent) from the foul line. Outside of Loyer's 10-for-11 from the line, the rest of the team went 9-for-37 (24.3 percent).

The Boilermakers will play either No. 1 Kansas and No. 4 Marquette in the title game on Wednesday. Tennessee will play either the Jayhawks or the Golden Eagles in the third-place game.

—Field Level Media