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Illinois Stuns Purdue In Big Ten Quarters

POSTED: 12:45 am EDT March 15, 2008

(Sports Network) - Demetri McCamey shot 9-of-14 from the floor, including a perfect 6-for-6 from beyond the arc, en route to a 26-point performance, as Illinois upended 17th-ranked Purdue, 74-67, in overtime in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament at Conseco Fieldhouse.

Shaun Pruitt scored 14 points on 7-of-9 shooting for the Fighting Illini (15-18), who became the first 10th seed to advance to the semifinals in tournament history. Illinois will face sixth-seeded Minnesota on Saturday. Mike Davis added 10 points off the bench.

"I'm just happy we were able to find a way to win a game and get to play another day and continue to enjoy the season," Illinois coach Bruce Weber said.

E'Twaun Moore had 22 points, while Keaton Grant tallied 12 for the second- seeded Boilermakers (24-8), who have dropped two of their last three outings. Robbie Hummel finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds, and Chris Kramer donated nine points in the loss.

"I felt that this game was going to be one of those grinders and become a possession game," Purdue coach Matt Painter said. "I thought we did a pretty good job of putting ourselves into a position to win the game. To go into overtime, they made a couple more plays than we did."

McCamey knocked down a step- back trey to close within 60-58 with 1:37 left in the second half. On the ensuing possession, Kramer completed a three-point play to push the lead to 63-58. Pruitt's layup made it a one possession game with 45.9 seconds remaining and, following a Purdue turnover, McCamey drained another three-pointer to send the game to overtime.

The Boilermakers couldn't buy a basket in the extra session, going 0-for-10 from the floor. With Illinois holding a 67-66 lead, Davis hit a pair of layups to stretch the margin to 71-66 with just over a minute remaining. Nemanja Calasan made 1-of-2 from the charity stripe to make it a four-point game, but Illinois prevailed down the stretch, as Purdue couldn't get a shot to fall in the dying moments of the contest.

Down 8-7 early on, Calvin Brock drained three consecutive shots to put Illinois ahead 13-8, but Purdue answered with a 15-0 run, capped by Moore's jumper with 7:21 remaining in the first half. The Fighting Illini roared back, and the schools returned to their respective locker rooms at halftime with the score deadlocked at 28 after Pruitt tipped in his own miss in the waning seconds of the frame.

Brian Randle converted a pair of free throws to push Illinois' advantage to 41-36 with about six minutes gone in the second half. Moore ignited a 6-0 run and the Boilermakers reclaimed the lead after consecutive steals by Kramer and Tarrance Crump resulted in easy fastbreak layups at the other end of the floor.

The see-saw battle continued as Illinois restored a five-point advantage, 47-42, on Pruitt's dunk with 8:59 remaining. Purdue then rattled off seven straight points to grab the lead, but McCamey's jumper knotted the score at 49 with 6:20 to go.

Game Notes

Despite the loss, Purdue owns an 88-82 edge over Illinois in the all-time series...The Fighting Illini shot a sizzling 61.2 percent (30-of-49) from the floor, but only 40 percent (8-of-20) from the free throw line...Purdue made 39.3 percent (22-of-56) of its shots, with half of them coming from beyond the arc (11-of-25)..Illinois outrebounded Purdue, 39-26...Pruitt grabbed nine boards...Kramer dished out five assists...Illinois reached the semifinals for the 10th time in the tournament's 11 seasons...Illinois has won three games in a row for the first time this season...The Fighting Illini defeated a ranked opponent for the first time in nine tries this season.

Illinois

News

Illinois
Brian Butch scored 12 points to lead the eighth-ranked Wisconsin Badgers past the Fighting Illini of Illinois, 61-48, in the Big Ten championship game.

Scoreboard

Sun, Mar. 16FINAL
Illinois (16-18) 48
Wisconsin (28-4) 61

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