Purdue, Clemson to Face-Off in Space Coast Challenge Championship Game at EFSC Melbourne Campus

By  //  November 25, 2020

Clemson will face Purdue in the championship

Purdue, and Clemson picked up wins on opening night and will face off Thursday night in the championship game of the Space Coast Challenge on the Melbourne campus of Eastern Florida State College. (EFSC image)

BREVARD COUNTY • MELBOURNE, FLORIDA – Purdue, and Clemson picked up wins on opening night and will face off Thursday night in the championship game of the Space Coast Challenge on the Melbourne campus of Eastern Florida State College.

In the first game of the night Purdue led by as many as nine points but a 3-pointer from Darius McGhee drew the Liberty Flames within 36-32, but Aaron Wheeler responded with a 3 with two seconds left to give the Boilermakers a 39-32 lead at the break.

The second half saw Purdue maintain its lead, moving ahead 62-50 with 10:09 to go on a 3-pointer from Isaiah Thompson. Liberty made one last push, with a long 3-pointer from McGhee and two free throws from Abii making it 68-62 with 5:16 remaining.

Purdue answered with a 3-pointer from Sasha Stefanovic and a dunk by Edey, and the Boilermakers led 73-62 with 4:32 to go.

McGhee had 21 points and six rebounds, and Abii closed with 19 points. Purdue ended up with 12 points from Ivey and 10 from Wheeler. Trevion Williams had 11 rebounds and five assists.

The second game was a battle from the start as both teams struggled with their shots. Clemson employed a balanced attack, with 10 players getting into the scorebook. Freshman PJ Hall had 10 points, as did Al-Amir Dawes. Mississippi State (0-1) shot just 30 percent from the field and was a woeful 8-of-27 from the free-throw line.

The Tigers expanded their second-half lead to 33-25 on a 3-pointer from Clyde Trapp with 16:18 remaining. At 13:49, Alex Hemenway’s shot made it 37-28, with the Bulldog then calling a timeout.

A jumper from Hemenway made it 46-30 at the 9:13 mark; Mississippi State put together a 7-0 to close to 46-37, but a jumper from Hall pushed it back to a double-digit lead, 48-37 with 3:23 remaining.

D.J. Stewart Jr. had 12 points for Mississippi State while Deivon Smith added 12 points and 10 rebounds.

The Bulldogs (0-1), who will play Liberty in the third-place game Thursday at 6 p.m. while Clemson will face Purdue in the championship game at 8:30 p.m. Both games will be shown live from Titan Field House on CBS Sports Network.

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