Purdue needed overtime to defeat Villanova in the championship game of the First Four NCAA men’s basketball tournament on Thursday.
The third-seeded Boilermakers won 80-74 after the Wildcats made their only basket in the extra session.
The victory means Purdue, which is coached by former Villanova assistant Matt Painter, has won six straight and is now 1-0 all-time against the Wildcats.
Purdue (1-0) made only five of their 21 3-point attempts but turned 13 turnovers into 24 points, more than their total from three games in the pre-season Bahamas tourney.
The Wildcats (1-1) used a 16-2 run in the first half to jump out to a seven-point lead. There were 13 lead changes in the first half and the Wildcats led by as many as seven points. Purdue tied the game at 38 on a 3-pointer by Matt Haarms with 1:52 left in the first half.
Carsen Edwards took over for the Boilermakers with eight consecutive points in the waning seconds of the first half, including the tying 3-pointer with 5.1 seconds left.
There were two more ties in the second half before the Boilermakers went ahead for good with 5:49 to play on another basket by Edwards.
The Villanova junior guard Mikal Bridges appeared to have the game under control, leading the Wildcats with 25 points. But he hit only two of his 11 free throws and missed a three-pointer with 52 seconds left to send the game into overtime.
Bridges looked to have sealed the game for Villanova with a layup with 15 seconds left in regulation, but he was called for an offensive foul on the play.