Honolulu — Zach Edey scored 15 of his game-high 25 points in the first half and No. 2 Purdue rallied to a beat No. 11 Gonzaga 73-63 in a Maui Invitational quarterfinal game on Monday.
The Boilermakers (4-0) trailed by as many as nine points late in the first half, but outscored the Bulldogs (2-1) 43-28 in the second half to remain unbeaten.
Purdue moves on to face No. 7 Tennessee, a 73-56 winner over Syracuse, in a semifinal Tuesday.
Gonzaga will meet the Orange in a consolation game at 2:30 pm tomorrow. That game will be televised on ESPN2.
“The start of the second half was key for us, getting some transition baskets, getting some steals, I thought we had some active hands at that time and I think that kind of set the tone for us in the second half. The other difference, I thought, was their inability to make 3s in the second half,” Boilermakers coach Matt Painter said.
Edey, a 7-foot-4 senior center, shot 8 for 16 from the field and made 9 of 10 shots from the free throw line. He also grabbed 14 rebounds and blocked three shots in 33 minutes.
Lance Jones and Braden Smith added 13 points apiece for Purdue, which shot 54.5% from the field (18 of 33) in the second half. Smith also notched five steals.
Graham Ike led Gonzaga with 14 points and seven rebounds. Ryan Nembhard had 11 points, six assists and three steals, and Nolan Hickman added 11 points and three steals.
The Bulldogs were 26-for-69 shooting (37.7%) from the field.
Purdue dominated Gonzaga in points in the paint, 44-30.
Gonzaga was only 5 of 8 from the line, while Purdue made 13 of 16 free throws.
The Boilermakers jumped out to an early 6-0 lead, but the Bulldogs answered with a 14-0 run that was capped by a Hickman pull-up jumper at the 14:28 mark.
Purdue took the lead for good with 14:53 left to play on a Edey putback dunk that gave the Boilermakers a 43-42 advantage.
Gonzaga shot 6 of 19 from beyond the arc in the first half and went 0 for 13 from long distance the rest of the way.
“I think if you look…
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