Fletcher Loyer scored 18 of his game-high 20 points in the second half as No. 1 Purdue remained perfect with an 80-71 victory over Memphis in the semifinals of the Baha Mar Championship at Nassau, Bahamas.
C.J. Cox scored a season-high 18 points while Trey Kaufman-Renn added 12 points with 11 rebounds before he fouled out for the Boilermakers (5-0), who overcame a sluggish first half to pull away in the final seven minutes. Purdue, which received 11 assists from Braden Smith, opened 5-0 for the fourth time in five seasons.
In Friday’s title game, Purdue will face the winner of Thursday’s second semifinal between Texas Tech and Wake Forest. Memphis meets the loser for third place.
Dug McDaniel scored 18 points with six rebounds and six assists and Zach Davis added 11 points for the Tigers (1-3), who are on a three-game losing streak. Sincere Parker and Tariq Ingraham each scored 10 points for Memphis, which saw its five-game winning streak over Big Ten opponents come to an end.
Memphis led 64-61 with 7:01 remaining following a nearly five-minute run from Purdue without a field goal. Despite Smith picking up his fourth foul at that juncture, the Boilermakers took over from there. They went on an 11-0 run to take a 73-64 lead with 3:27 remaining.
The decisive stretch included five consecutive points from Cox as Purdue took the lead for good at 65-64 with 5:15 left. Memphis missed five 3-point attempts and five free-throw attempts over the final 3:11.
Purdue struggled from long range early in the game that was being played in a resort ballroom before an intimate crowd of 2,000. The Boilermakers missed their first four shots from the 3-point line as the Tigers built an early 13-4 lead. They also missed nine of their first 10 shots from long range.
The Boilermakers recovered to make two 3-pointers in the final 30 seconds of the first half to take a 36-35 lead at the break. Kaufman-Renn led Purdue with 10 points and nine rebounds in the first half, while committing three fouls.
