WEST LAFAYETTE, INDIANA — Ex-St. Peter’s star Liam Murphy came off the bench to score 11 points during Purdue University’s 87-77 non-conference victory over visiting Oakland on Friday.

Murphy’s performance, which included three three-pointers on 4-for-7 shooting (3-for-6 from three-point range), didn’t go unnoticed by head coach Matt Painter.”

The teams were tied 35-35 at intermission, but Murphy came off the bench to bury two treys in a three-minute span to help the Boilermakers get some separation before they earned the 10-point win.

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Painter, who is now in his 21st season coaching his alma mater, was asked about Murphy’s contributions during the post-game press conference.

“Murphy’s (contributions) were huge. That’s what he can do — you can see there’s no hesitation,’’ said Painter of the 6-foot-8 Murphy. “He missed his first couple, then he makes that one at the end of the first half.

“But that stretch (in the second half) when it’s still just a one or two possession game, he makes back-to-back threes and that gives us a lift.’’

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With returning leading scorer Trey Kaufman-Renn missing the first two games because of a hip injury, Painter has started redshirt freshman Jack Benter in his place with Murphy coming off the bench.

“I didn’t go back to (Murphy after he hit those big threes) because I thought (Benter) did some good things, but if you looked at that spot — (Benter) playing 29 minutes, (Murphy) playing almost 11 minutes — we got six threes from that spot.

“We got to do a better job, maybe, of helping them through match-ups. We get into some tough match-ups and those guys are really (shooting forwards) if you want to get down to it physically, but you see where it helps us on the offensive end. Kind of the in-betweens on the offensive and defensive rebounding, that’s where we got to shore it up.

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“But give (Murphy) credit. That’s tough to do, but he proved that he’s a prolific shooter.”

Murphy also grabbed two rebounds against the Golden Grizzlies, who are a Division I program from Michigan.

Painter has expressed a concern over the Boilermakers’ rebounding as a team following Friday’s game and last Tuesday’s season-opening win over Evansville.

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