PHILADELPHIA — “Let’s go Peacocks,” they chanted. 

“S-P-U,” they roared. 

It sounded like Jersey City in the City of Brotherly Love on Friday night. Wells Fargo Center felt like Run Baby Run Arena would have, had this NCAA Tournaent Sweet 16 game been played 95 miles up I-95. 

Four months after 434 people were in attendance for the Saint Peter’s home opener, the Cinderella Peacocks had almost an entire NBA arena behind them — with thousands more watching from afar — and the gutty players didn’t let their new supporters down. 

The darling of this NCAA Tournament wrote another chapter in a hard-to-believe tale. The Peacocks closed like a seasoned title contenders, not a No. 15 seed with no business being in this position. Purdue joined Kentucky and Murray State as the Peacocks’ victims. 

Coach Shaheen Holloway’s unheralded and unrecruited underdogs stunned the third-seeded Boilermakers, 67-64, becoming the lowest seed in NCAA Tournament history to reach the Elite Eight after finishing on a 15-8 run over the final 4:02. 

When a 3-point heave by Purdue’s Jaden Ivey was off the mark at the horn, Holloway lifted both arms in the air in celebration and the entire Saint Peter’s team sprinted over to press row to salute its ecstatic fans. Doug Edert, the mustachioed shooting guard, channeled Kobe Bryant and jumped onto the scorer’s table. 

“We’re making history,” Edert said after the Peacocks’ 10th straight win, “and we look forward to making more history.” 

The first New York City-area team to reach this stage since St. John’s in 1999, Saint Peter’s will play in the East Region final Sunday against eighth-seeded North Carolina.

The Peacocks were on the ropes a few times in the second half. They trailed 56-52 with under five minutes to go, and star KC Ndefo had fouled out. They didn’t blink. Edert’s three free throws with 4:02 left cut the deficit to one. Darryl Banks III’s consecutive jumpers in the lane gave them the lead for good, 59-57 with 2:16 to go. They sank 11 consecutive free throws down the stretch to ensure victory. 

“They beat us like they beat the other two teams,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “They had a strong will, grimy, tough, into you, and Shaheen Holloway has done an unbelievable job there at Saint Peter’s.” 

It wasn’t a perfect performance, which made the win all the more impressive. The Peacocks only shot 38 percent from the field and hit just six 3-pointers. Ndefo was limited to four points in 18 foul-plagued minutes. 

But their defense, this team’s calling card, contained Ivey, a projected top-five NBA draft pick, holding him to nine points and forcing him into six turnovers. Zach Edey, the Boilermakers’ 7-foot-4 center, committed five turnovers and scored just 11 points for Purdue (29-8). Down the stretch, when the result was up for grabs, Saint Peter’s (22-11) executed just as it had against Kentucky and Murray State. It owned the crucial moments. 

“When you’re playing against teams like that who are supposed to win, when you keep it tight, certain things can happen,” Holloway said. “I told my guys, ‘Just keep battling, keep battling, let’s see what happens.’ We kept battling, I knew the ball was going to bounce our way, and it did.” 

Said point guard Matthew Lee: “We know we’re just as good as any team in the country. As long as we stick to our game, play defense, and give it 100 percent, we feel like we can hang with anybody.” 

Now, Saint Peter’s is within 40 minutes of what would be a miraculous Final Four berth. This remarkable run isn’t over yet. The Peacocks will be back at Wells Fargo Center on Sunday and all of Jersey City just might be in the building. 

“We’re happy, but don’t [be mistaken], we’re not satisfied,” Edert said. “We’re not satisfied at all. The job is not finished. We feel like we belong, and the more games we win, the more confidence we build.”