Nov. 29, 2006
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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) -Purdue's quickest player made the Boilermakers' biggest shot of the season.
Tarrance Crump came off a screen, drove to the basket and hit a floater with 1 second remaining, giving Purdue a 61-59 victory over No. 25 Virginia in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge on Wednesday night.
The play was designed for Crump as the first option. When he saw he was open, he never hesitated.
"It's however they play the screen," Crump said. "If their big man doesn't come up, I can take it and go. If not, kick it back and give it to one of the shooters. It's the play we ran before, but I didn't come off the screen hard enough and force the defense to help."
It was Purdue's first nonconference victory over a ranked opponent in Mackey Arena since 1985 against DePaul.
The Boilermakers (5-1) blew a nine-point lead midway through the second half and fell behind by five before consecutive 3-pointers by Marcus Green, Chris Lutz and David Teague. The Cavaliers (4-1) tied the game for the final time at 59 on two free throws by Sean Singletary with 29 seconds left.
After a Purdue timeout, Carl Landry held the ball away from the basket until about 7 seconds remained, then got the ball to Crump, who scored from the right side of the lane. Virginia had one more chance, but turned the ball over on the inbounds pass.
"I definitely knew we would get a shot off," said Landry, who led the Boilermakers with 19 points. "I didn't know if we would make it or not, but Tarrance did a good job staying focused."
Teague added 14 points and five assists. Crump also had five assists and scored six points.
Virginia was paced by Singletary with 21 points and Mamadi Diane with 17.
Purdue coach Matt Painter said Crump, a junior guard, is at his best when he attacks the basket.
"He's our best ball handler, the quickest player we have," Painter said. "He does the best job breaking people down. ... If he goes fast, he causes teams to get in a bind on ball screens. They hedged and he saw a seam and made the shot."
Virginia had averaged almost 91 points in its first four games, but poor shooting and turnovers prevented the Cavaliers from exploiting Purdue's sloppy play early in the game.
"For the last two days, I didn't think our mind-set was where it needed to be," Virginia coach Dave Leitao said. "It's hard to account for it."
Purdue led 8-6 after consecutive 3-pointers by Green and Teague, but the Boilermakers didn't make another field goal for almost eight minutes. By that time, Virginia had built its lead to as many as seven points, but even then the Cavaliers were never in control.
"I didn't have a whole lot of comfort throughout the game," Leitao said. "We were missing assignments and our zones. When we missed assignments defensively, we didn't respond the way we needed to with quality offense."
After two free throws by Singletary gave Virginia a 19-14 lead, the Cavaliers had four more turnovers just before halftime. A basket by Crump pulled Purdue to 19-18, then two free throws by Gordon Watt gave the Boilermakers their first lead since the opening minutes.
The Cavaliers, who also went more than eight minutes without a basket during one stretch, shot 31 percent in the first half. A basket by Diane brought them to 24-23 before two free throws by Landry with 26 seconds to go gave Purdue a 26-23 lead at the break.
The Boilermakers hit six of their first eight shots in the second period and took their biggest lead at 39-30 on a 3-pointer by Teague.
Singletary and Diane then took over, and a 3-pointer by each of them put the Cavaliers back in front with less than seven minutes remaining. Another basket by Diane was Virginia's final field goal, though, and the Cavaliers scored their final four points on free throws by Singletary.