Davis leads No. 21 Purdue to 85-70 win over Florida
UNCASVILLE, Conn. (AP) No. 21 Purdue has dominated early this season with its two 7-footers, but showed on Sunday night it also has some pretty good perimeter players.
Rapheal Davis scored 18 points to lead five players in double figures and the Boilermakers beat Florida 85-70 to win the Hall of Fame Tip-Off tournament.
Backup point guard P.J. Thompson had 15 points, Vince Edwards added 14, Caleb Swanigan had 12 and 7-foot-2 Isaac Haas chipped in 11.
''We've got a good group,'' said Thompson, who also had three assists and five rebounds. ''We've got bigs that are physical and fundamental. We've got good shooters that we can sub in no matter which one of them gets going that day.''
Purdue (5-0) led most of the way and used a 15-2 second-half run to give the Gators (3-1) their first loss under new coach Mike White.
John Egbunu led all scorers with 19 points and grabbed seven rebounds for Florida. Dorian Finney-Smith added 17 points and eight boards.
But the Gators could not stay with Purdue, which shot 50 percent from the floor and made 11 of 26 from behind the arc.
Thompson was 3 of 6 from long range and Edwards, Davis, and Dakota Mathias each hit two 3-pointers.
Florida had been out-rebounding opponents by more than 16 per game, but lost that battle 43-34.
''They had, it seemed like, six 7-footers, 7-6 dudes, and they knocked down every open shot,'' Finney-Smith said. ''They played great team defense.''
It was a game of runs.
Edwards scored five points during an 8-0 spurt that stretched a 45-42 lead to 11 early in the second half.
The Gators got back within three during a 7-0 run sparked when Egbunu fought Thompson for a loose ball and the pair went rolling across the floor attached to it. Florida got the turnover and eventually cut a 59-49 deficit to 59-56.
Purdue led 66-60 after Dakota Mathias hit a long 3-pointer, starting a 12-0 Boilermaker run. They were not challenged again.
''Any time we got the lead to double digits, they seemed to run it back to one possession,'' said Purdue coach Matt Painter, who is now 5-0 for the fifth time in his 11 seasons at the school. ''But each time that happened, our guys had an answer for it.''
Purdue hit four of its first five shots from behind the arc, going on an 8-0 run to open up a 20-10 lead.
Florida went right after Purdue's big men, outscoring Purdue 22-12 in the paint in the first half and forcing Purdue's two 7-footers, Haas and A.J. Hammons, into two early fouls.
Finney-Smith hit his first five shots and had 13 first-half points. Egbunu added 11 points and five rebounds. Finney-Smith hit a 3-pointer that cut the lead to 35-34 and the Gators took a brief 38-37 lead on a driving basket by KeVaughn Allen.
But the Boilermaker went on a 6-0 run over the final minute of the first half to lead by five at the break.
TIP-INS
Purdue: Purdue had not won an in-season tournament since the 2009 Paradise Jam. This was the first tournament title game for Purdue since it lost to Alabama 65-56 in the final of the 2011 Puerto Rico Tip-Off Tournament. The Boilermakers went 22-13 that year and played in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Florida: This was the first game this season that a Florida player failed to put up a double-double. Devin Robinson, who had two of them, including 12 points and 10 rebounds on Saturday against Saint Joseph's, had just five points and four rebounds.
SCORING BLITZ: The 85 points are the most Florida has given up in a regulation game since falling to Ohio State 93-75 on Nov. 16, 2010.
UP NEXT
Purdue: The Boilermakers are off until Nov. 28, when they host Lehigh.
Florida: The Gators return home to host Vermont on Wednesday and Florida Gulf Coast on Friday, completing a string of four games in seven days.
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This story has been corrected to show that Mathias 3-pointer stretched the Purdue lead to 66-60 not tie the game at 63.
