Field Level Media
Jan 15, 2019
Carsen Edwards scored 19 points as Purdue pulled away in the second half and recorded an 89-54 victory over Rutgers on Tuesday night in West Lafayette, Ind.
Purdue (11-6, 4-2 Big Ten) beat Rutgers for the 10th straight time, the 12th time in 13 all-time meetings, and improved to 8-0 this season at home.
Edwards followed up a 36-point performance on Friday in an overtime win over Wisconsin by shooting 6 of 12 from the floor and hitting 5 of 10 3-point attempts Tuesday.
Reserve Trevion Williams added a career-high 16 points and grabbed 13 rebounds for Purdue, which outscored Rutgers 49-24 in the second half. Reserve Sasha Stefanovic added a career-best 14 points while Ryan Kline hit four 3-pointers and contributed 12 points.
The Boilermakers scored at least 80 points for the fifth time in seven games and posted their second-widest margin of victory this season.
Rutgers (8-8, 1-5) lost its second straight game by double digits after knocking off Ohio State last Wednesday. The Scarlet Knights played without leading scorer and rebounder Eugene Omoruyi (knee) for the second game in a row.
Freshman guard Montez Mathis scored a career-high 19 points for Rutgers, which shot 37.5 percent and absorbed its ninth conference loss by at least 30 points since joining the Big Ten in 2014-15. Geo Baker and Shaq Carter added 10 points apiece.
The Scarlet Knights shot 7 of 26 from the field in the second half. Rutgers, which led for just 51 seconds, has lost its past three visits to Purdue by a combined 85 points.
Purdue opened a 21-14 lead with 11:01 left in the half on a basket by Stefanovic, but Rutgers countered with an 8-2 spurt to get within 23-22 on a 3-pointer by Baker about two minutes later. Purdue took a 31-23 lead on a 3-pointer by Cline and held a 40-30 lead by halftime.
Two 3-pointers by Cline in the opening 2:12 of the second half pushed Purdue's lead to 49-32. Purdue opened its first 20-point lead at 58-37 on a layup by Grady Eifert with 14:29 remaining. That hoop was part of a 10-0 run as Rutgers went 4:18 without a basket, and Purdue cruised the rest of the way.
--Field Level Media