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Toughness carries Purdue past Michigan State in overtime

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GAME GLANCE
Player of the Game Play of the Game Stat of the Game

On any other night, A.J. Hammons runs away with this, but tonight belonged to Rapheal Davis, who carried Purdue in the first half, then came up big in overtime, scoring 24 points in what was likely his last crack at a win over Michigan State.

Vince Edwards was 0-3 from the floor for the game heading into overtime. Yet, with a little more than a minute left in overtime and Purdue up just one, coaches called 12's number and he delivered with a driving and-one over Kenny Goins, putting Purdue up four.

Purdue scored 14 second-chance points and grabbed 15 offensive rebounds, fewer than Michigan State, but more important. Hammons' at the end of OT sealed the game.

PDF: Purdue-Michigan State stats

Analysis ($): Wrap Video | Four-Point Play | Blog

More: Davis plays leading role; notebook

With what might have been Purdue's biggest game of the season to this point on the line, it put the ball in its senior leader's hands.

And Rapheal Davis delivered, finishing off a shooting performance for the ages at Purdue with a simple free throw, the one that gave his team and 82-81 overtime win over No. 9 Michigan State and for himself, his first-ever win over the Spartans in what was likely his last crack at it.

With OT knotted at 81-all, Purdue inbounded to A.J. Hammons, who set a high screen, before giving off to Davis, who the Boilermaker coaches were trying to get headed downhill all the way to the rim for a game-winner. Instead, Denzel Valentine bumped Davis coming off said screen.

Foul.

Davis made the first free throw.

Purdue led, seemingly ages after it had held an 18-point cushion just seconds into the second half, a lead that got kneecapped in what seemed like an instant by a burst of threes by Valentine.

Davis missed the second free throw.

He says he did so on purpose, though with certain playful look in his eye.

Teammate A.J. Hammons is asked if Davis missed intentionally.

"Man, I don't know," he said.

Hammons rendered the question moot, by fighting for the offensive rebound and securing it before getting swarmed, tied up just long enough for time to expire.

"I was going to make them foul me at least," Hammons said of his game-sealing rebound.

That play summed up the physical toughness Purdue showed in winning this tumultuous rock right over one of college basketball standard-bearers for toughness.

The Boilermakers outrebounded the Spartans 42-39 and saddled them with 26 personal fouls. In a contest of strength on strength, Purdue came out on top in that sense.

It was just the other day that Davis tabbed "toughness" as the only commodity that would matter against Michigan State, though blazing shooting in the first half certainly helped as well.

Toughness does come in many forms, specifically the physical and the mental. Purdue had enough of both to earn its first win over a top-10-ranked team since late February of 2011.

After the Boilermakers blew - or more accurately, after the Spartans took away - that big lead, the Iowa game from so many weeks ago was replaying itself. Whereas then Purdue buckled beyond recovery, this time it counter-punched.

"Like Johnny (Hill) always tells us, 'Have positive vibes,'" said Davis, one of two players to mention the senior guard's regular message to those around him. "Up or down, just have good vibes. They had some things go their way and I knew we were going to have our run. Basketball is a game of runs and we were able to pull on out at home."

Yeah, but Purdue had its run in the first half.

And with about two minutes to go in regulation, when it trailed by four and seemed to very little momentum working in its favor, it looked cooked.

But Purdue found ways to get defensive stops when it needed them and generated for Caleb Swanigan back-to-back buckets in the lane to the tie the game, ultimately leading to five minutes of free - but not particularly aesthetically pleasing, depending on your perspective - basketball.

Purdue again looked to be on shaky ground when Vince Edwards and Hammons combined make just two of four free throws. That put Purdue up four at the three-minute mark of the extra session, which looked comfortable for mere seconds, because Bryn Forbes answered with a three.

But Edwards saved his only field goal of the day for the right moment, taking the ball on a designed play on a drive into the lane from the right wing and finishing through a collision with Goins. The and-one put Purdue back up four.

"The coaches kept telling me all the shots I was taking were great shots and not to get my head down," Edwards said. "We drew a play up and Coach Paint kept harping on making the play when it's there and don't force the shot. I saw the angle, they tried to cut me off and I took a little hop and went up. They called the foul and I was able to finish through the contact."

Game over?

Nope.

Valentine, capping another brilliant day for a brilliant player, drove the lane and made a tough finish to tie the game again with 11-and-a-half seconds left.

That set up the sequence that couldn't have ended this game, between these two teams, any more fittingly: A free throw and a rebound won it.

"It showed we're a tough team," Davis said. "We don't wilt, we don't quit."

But that sort of scenario has happened this season, back in that Iowa game, when the Hawkeyes turned the game on its side and Purdue went down for the count.

Tuesday, Purdue made a chance to thrive - or, really, survive - where it had before failed.

"I was glad we stuck together and made a play," Coach Matt Painter said. "It would have been a devastating loss for us if we'd lost this one, because we gave a lot."

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