ST. THOMAS, Virgin Islands — No. 6 Purdue hung on for dear life Monday night in a 73-72 victory against No. 9 Tennessee in the Paradise Jam’s championship game.

Tournament MVP E’Twaun Moore scored a team-high 22 points, and fellow all-tournament team member Robbie Hummel added 20 points, seven rebounds and three assists in front of 3,755 in the University of the Virgin Islands Sports and Fitness Center.

Volunteers center Wayne Chism missed a potential game-winning 3-pointer with three seconds remaining, and freshman guard Kelsey Barlow chased down a long rebound in the right corner as time expired. Chism, an all-tournament team member, led all scorers with 24 points.

Two Keaton Grant free throws gave the Boilermakers a 72-66 lead with 2:13 to play. Hummel’s free throw with 32.1 seconds to play, which gave his team a 73-70 lead, was Purdue’s final point.

Barlow missed two free throws on Purdue’s last possession.

It came down to stopping a Tennessee team that entered Monday’s title game averaging 92.2 points.

Unlike last season’s tough losses in nonconference games, the Boilers persevered to win their first November tournament since the 2003 Great Alaska Shootout.

“We definitely refused to lose,” said Moore, who became a 1,000-point career scorer with a pair of first-half free throws. "We came all the way down here to the Virgin Islands to win. We knew we had to stay strong.

“In the second half, we knew we had to come out and get them (defensively) and be a little more aggressive and rebound better. Our defense and our approach to the game was different in the second half.”

It had to be when starting center JaJuan Johnson (11 points and three rebounds) fouled out with 3:24 remaining, and backup post player Patrick Bade was whistled for his fifth with 2:13 to go. That forced Hummel to defend Chism.

Moore and Hummel combined to produce an 8-0 Purdue run — four points each — that gave the Boilermakers a 64-59 lead with 6:18 remaining. Purdue never trailed again, but Tennessee (4-1) never went away, taking advantage of Purdue’s foul trouble.

The Volunteers enjoyed a 38-24 advantage in points scored on the interior, but Purdue countered slightly with a 20-13 edge in points as the result of turnovers.

“This was a battle of wills,” said Purdue defensive specialist Chris Kramer, who had six points and five rebounds. “They wanted it as badly as us, and it came down to getting one stop down the stretch, and we got that last stop. Kelsey got that rebound after we got that one stop that this team couldn’t get last year.”

Purdue coach Matt Painter was proud of his team.

“Our offense got stagnant, and our guys were running in quicksand there for a while,” he said. “But when we got some real key rebounds down the stretch, that was the difference.”

It’s Purdue’s first victory against a top-10 opponent since Feb. 17, a 72-54 win over then-No. 6 Michigan State.

Purdue 73, Tennessee 72

[chart]
|Tennessee|Min|FG-A|FT-A|OR-T|A|F|T|Pts|
|Smith|31|3-7|4-5|1-4|3|3|2|10|
|Chism|30|8-13|7-7|2-6|0|3|3|24|
|Maze|26|4-9|4-4|1-5|2|2|0|13|
|Prince|21|0-4|0-0|0-0|2|3|0|0|
|Hopson|26|3-8|3-4|0-4|1|1|4|9|
|Woolridge|1|0-1|0-0|0-0|0|2|1|0|
|McBee|15|0-1|3-3|0-2|0|1|0|3|
|Hall|4|0-0|0-0|0-1|0|0|0|0|
|Goins|14|0-4|1-2|0-1|0|3|3|1|
|Tatum|19|3-4|1-2|0-2|1|2|0|8|
|Williams|13|2-2|0-1|1-2|0|4|2|4|
| Team ||||3-5|||1||
|Totals||23-53|23-28|8-32|9|24|16|72|
[end chart]

3-point shooting: 3-11 (Maze 1-1, Tatum 1-2, Chism 1-4, Hopson 0-2, Goins 0-1). S teals: 4 (Prince, Hopson, McBee, Tatum). B locked shots : 3 (Chism 2, Williams).

[chart]
|Purdue|Min|FG-A|FT-A|OR-T|A|F|T|Pts|
|Hummel|37|7-16|5-6|1-7|3|1|1|20|
|Johnson|18|5-8|1-2|2-3|0|5|2|11|
|Kramer|31|2-5|2-2|1-5|2|1|1|6|
|Grant|21|0-2|4-5|0-3|2|3|1|4|
|Moore|36|8-16|4-5|0-3|3|2|3|22|
|Barlow|16|1-2|1-4|3-6|2|3|3|3|
|Byrd|4|0-0|0-0|0-0|0|3|0|0|
|Smith|14|0-3|2-2|0-0|0|2|0|2|
|Wohlford|5|1-1|0-0|0-0|0|0|0|3|
|Bade|18|1-3|0-0|1-3|0|5|1|2|
|Team||||1-2|||1||
|Totals||25-56|19-26|9-32|12|25|13|73|
[end chart]

3-point shooting : 4-16 (Moore 2-5, Wohlford 1-1, Hummel 1-6, Grant 0-2, Smith 0-2). Steals: 6 (Hummel, Kramer, Grant, Barlow, Smith, Bade). B locked shots : 5 (Kramer, Grant, Moore, Smith, Bade).

Halftime: Purdue 42-41. Officials: Bryan Kersey, John Hughes, Jamie Luckie. Attendance: 3,755.