Marquette, Mitchell beaten at the wire by Purdue in Maui final

A halfcourt buzzer-beater just before halftime and a putback in the final seconds ended up sending Marquette to its first loss Wednesday, 78-75 to second-ranked Purdue in the championship game of the Maui Classic.

One day after knocking off top-ranked Kansas the fourth-ranked Golden Eagles had a chance to move up to the top spot in the nation as they trimmed a 15-point deficit to one in the final minute.

Purdue remained unbeaten as towering 7-4 center Zach Edy put back a miss in the final seconds after a strong defensive stand by the Golden Eagles cause a forced shot from the perimeter just before the shot clock went off.

Edy finished with 28 points and 15 boards.

The Golden Eagles could have become the first team to beat the Nos. 1 and 2 teams in the Associated Press poll on consecutive days. A win would have assured Marquette of being the top team when the next rankings come out. Marquette hasn’t been No. 1 in the nation since Feb. 20, 1978.

“I told the guys in the locker room, there’s teams in this field that will play each other in March,” Marquette head coach Shaka Smart said. “It might not be us and Purdue, but there’s going to be teams in this field that play again and it won’t be in the first round of the tournament.”

Purdue’s Lance Johnson hit a shot from roughly 80 feet away to put his team on top 45-33 at the half.

Wilson grad Stevie Mitchell, a junior starting guard for Marquette, finished with five points and a steal in 20 minutes.

Mitchell’s strong perimeter defense keyed the late comeback, when saw his team pull within 76-75 on with 53 seconds after Oso Ighodaro knocked down a short hook.

Marquette is the first team to play Associated Press No. 1 and 2 in back-to-back games since Loyola Chicago in 1972, which lost to UCLA (1) and Marquette (2).

Marquette returns to action Tuesday when it hosts Southern in non-conference action at Fiserv Forum.