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No. 10 Tennessee Squeaks By DePaul, Will Face No. 7 Purdue In Paridise Jam Finals
Tyler Smith scored 14 points and pulled down nine rebounds, as 10th-ranked Tennessee squeaked out a 57-53 win over DePaul in the semifinal round of the Paradise Jam.
Wayne Chism added 13 points and eight boards for the Volunteers (4-0), who will play seventh-ranked Purdue for the championship Monday night. Skylar McBee tallied nine points for the Vols, who won despite shooting just 37.3 percent from the field.
Mac Koshwal had 14 points and eight boards for the Blue Demons (2-1), who also got 14 points from Will Walker. DePaul shot just 33.3 percent from the floor and was outrebounded, 44-30.
Walker went 1-of-2 at the foul line with 4:52 remaining to tie the game at 49, but Smith’s one free throw 22 seconds later put the Vols ahead to stay. Chism added a three-pointer with 3:42 left and his jumper extended the margin to six points with 2:45 remaining.
The Blue Demons got within 55-53 on a layup from Koshwal with 44.5 seconds remaining, but Smith made two from the charity stripe with 13.7 seconds to go to account for the final margin.
The Vols gained a 33-24 halftime lead and pushed the cushion to 12 at the start of the second half thanks to a free throw and layup from Smith. Seven straight points from DePaul later made it a 43-42 contest, and it remained tight until the end.
Eric Wallace scored 10 for the Blue Demons, who finished 4-of-16 from beyond the arc…Tennessee won its only previous meeting with DePaul back in 1973….Chism and Smith combined to go 11-of-20 from the floor.
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