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LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Purdue men's basketball saw its storybook run through the NCAA Tournament come to disbelieving end less than one second from its first trip to the Final Four since 1980.
Top-seeded Virginia sent the game into overtime on a bucket by Mamadi Diakitre as the buzzer sounded, and the second-ranked Cavaliers went on to win the South Regional final 80-75 on Saturday at the KFC Yum! Center.
"They made a special play there at the end, and that's just part of competition," Purdue head coach Matt Painter said. "That's part of basketball.
"It's exciting when you beat somebody like Tennessee to get to the Elite Eight. The other night was pretty cool, and today stinks. Our guys have been great. They didn't let other people's opinion tell them how good they were going to be this year, and I think that's what it's all about."
The third-seeded Boilermakers (26-10) led 69-67 with 16 seconds left in regulation and Ryan Cline at the free throw line looking to clinch the victory. He made one of two, giving Purdue a three-point advantage. With five seconds remaining, the Cavaliers' Ty Jerome was fouled. He made the first free throw, missed the second, and Diakite tapped out the offensive rebound to Kihei Clark, who zipped a pass back to Diakite just outside the right edge of the lane, and he buried it.
"Clark made an unbelievable play to find Diakite, and then Diakite had the wherewithal to shoot it immediately," Painter said. "Those intermediate shots are difficult, and I thought Matt Haarms did a good job of challenging it."
In the extra session, the Cavaliers were up 78-75 with five seconds left. The Boilermakers inbounded the ball from under the Virginia basket, but Carsen Edwards' hurried lengthy pass to Cline in front of the Purdue bench went out of bounds, and Clark sealed the win with a pair of free throws.
"The play was drawn up for either Carsen or me to go make a play," Cline said. "He thought he got fouled or thought they were going to foul, and he wanted to kick ahead before he got fouled."
The loss did nothing to overshadow another eye-popping performance by Edwards. He equaled his career high of 42 points - set just one week ago in the second round against Villanova - by draining 14 of 25 shots from the field, including 10 of 19 from 3-point range, and all four free throw tries. He became the first player with multiple 40-point games in one NCAA Tournament since Bo Kimble of Loyola Marymount in 1990.
Edwards, who scored 26 points in the second half alone, was named Most Outstanding Player of the South Regional. He became the first player from a non-winning team so honored since Steph Curry of Davidson in 2008.
"I felt good and had rhythm on the shots I was taking, and they were just able to go in," Edwards said. "Never do I feel like I need to carry the team because we're all putting everything into the game."
After Purdue led the entire first half, Virginia took its first advantage at 32-30 early in the second half on a 3-pointer by Kyle Guy, who scored 21 of his team-leading 25 points after intermission. The Cavaliers twice led by as many eight points before Edwards put Purdue on his back. He canned three straight 3-pointers to cut the deficit in half at 50-46 with 12 minutes to go.
Virginia later led 63-57 when Purdue went on a 12-4 run fueled by nine points from Edwards to forge ahead 70-67 after Cline made his free throw.
Purdue built a 22-12 advantage with 9:46 remaining in the first half on an Aaron Wheeler 3-pointer. It was 25-16 when Virginia (33-3) scored eight straight points as part of a 13-5 run to trim the Boilermakers' lead to 30-29 at the half.
The teams combined to make their first eight shots of the game, and Cline drained his first two 3-pointers to extend his streak of consecutive made shots to 10, dating to Thursday's win over Tennessee.
Although the game was played at a neutral site, Purdue fans clearly outnumbered those cheering for Virginia.
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Purdue men's basketball saw its storybook run through the NCAA Tournament come to disbelieving end less than one second from its first trip to the Final Four since 1980.
Top-seeded Virginia sent the game into overtime on a bucket by Mamadi Diakitre as the buzzer sounded, and the second-ranked Cavaliers went on to win the South Regional final 80-75 on Saturday at the KFC Yum! Center.
"They made a special play there at the end, and that's just part of competition," Purdue head coach Matt Painter said. "That's part of basketball.
"It's exciting when you beat somebody like Tennessee to get to the Elite Eight. The other night was pretty cool, and today stinks. Our guys have been great. They didn't let other people's opinion tell them how good they were going to be this year, and I think that's what it's all about."
The third-seeded Boilermakers (26-10) led 69-67 with 16 seconds left in regulation and Ryan Cline at the free throw line looking to clinch the victory. He made one of two, giving Purdue a three-point advantage. With five seconds remaining, the Cavaliers' Ty Jerome was fouled. He made the first free throw, missed the second, and Diakite tapped out the offensive rebound to Kihei Clark, who zipped a pass back to Diakite just outside the right edge of the lane, and he buried it.
"Clark made an unbelievable play to find Diakite, and then Diakite had the wherewithal to shoot it immediately," Painter said. "Those intermediate shots are difficult, and I thought Matt Haarms did a good job of challenging it."
In the extra session, the Cavaliers were up 78-75 with five seconds left. The Boilermakers inbounded the ball from under the Virginia basket, but Carsen Edwards' hurried lengthy pass to Cline in front of the Purdue bench went out of bounds, and Clark sealed the win with a pair of free throws.
"The play was drawn up for either Carsen or me to go make a play," Cline said. "He thought he got fouled or thought they were going to foul, and he wanted to kick ahead before he got fouled."
The loss did nothing to overshadow another eye-popping performance by Edwards. He equaled his career high of 42 points - set just one week ago in the second round against Villanova - by draining 14 of 25 shots from the field, including 10 of 19 from 3-point range, and all four free throw tries. He became the first player with multiple 40-point games in one NCAA Tournament since Bo Kimble of Loyola Marymount in 1990.
Edwards, who scored 26 points in the second half alone, was named Most Outstanding Player of the South Regional. He became the first player from a non-winning team so honored since Steph Curry of Davidson in 2008.
"I felt good and had rhythm on the shots I was taking, and they were just able to go in," Edwards said. "Never do I feel like I need to carry the team because we're all putting everything into the game."
After Purdue led the entire first half, Virginia took its first advantage at 32-30 early in the second half on a 3-pointer by Kyle Guy, who scored 21 of his team-leading 25 points after intermission. The Cavaliers twice led by as many eight points before Edwards put Purdue on his back. He canned three straight 3-pointers to cut the deficit in half at 50-46 with 12 minutes to go.
Virginia later led 63-57 when Purdue went on a 12-4 run fueled by nine points from Edwards to forge ahead 70-67 after Cline made his free throw.
Purdue built a 22-12 advantage with 9:46 remaining in the first half on an Aaron Wheeler 3-pointer. It was 25-16 when Virginia (33-3) scored eight straight points as part of a 13-5 run to trim the Boilermakers' lead to 30-29 at the half.
The teams combined to make their first eight shots of the game, and Cline drained his first two 3-pointers to extend his streak of consecutive made shots to 10, dating to Thursday's win over Tennessee.
Although the game was played at a neutral site, Purdue fans clearly outnumbered those cheering for Virginia.