No. 7 Purdue routs Indiana 93-64 behind 20 points from Trey Kaufman-Renn
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) — Trey Kaufman-Renn scored 20 points and Braden Smith added 15 points and eight assists Friday night, helping No. 7 Purdue produce a historic rout over rival Indiana 93-64 to earn a split in this season’s series.
The Boilermakers emphatically ended their two-game losing streak against the Hoosiers by producing their highest point total in the series since scoring 94 points in 1998. It also was their largest victory margin in the series since a 44-point shellacking in 1969.
Fletcher Loyer and Omer Mayer each scored 18 points, with Loyer going 5 of 5 from the field, making four of his 3-pointers and all four free throws in what could be the Indiana finale for Purdue’s three senior starters — Kaufman-Renn, Smith and Loyer. The victory came three days after Purdue (22-5, 12-4 Big Ten) lost at home to top-ranked Michigan.
Lamar Wilkerson scored 18 of his 20 points in the second half to lead Indiana (17-10, 9-7), which lost its second straight to a top-10 team. Tayton Conerway had 12 points and seven assists, while Tucker DeVries added 11 points on a night Indiana’s offense never got in sync and whose post players struggled against the Boilermakers size, all while battling foul trouble.
Purdue took control quickly, using an 11-4 spurt to take a commanding 26-14 lead. The Boilermakers extended the margin to 46-29 when Nick Dorn’s half-closing 3-ponter was erased after a replay review determined the shot came after time expired.
NO. 18 SAINT LOUIS 88, VCU 75
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Kellen Thames scored 16 points and Saint Louis rallied from a 10-point deficit in the second half for a win over VCU in a game in which both benches emptied in the final seconds.
A St. Louis player was dribbling out the final seconds near center court when, with just over three seconds remaining, VCU’s Nyk Lewis stole the ball from behind and threw up a 3-point shot from halfcourt before being bumped into the broadcast table by the Billikens’ Robbie Avila. That prompted members of both teams to charge off their benches and set off a scrum on the court with 1.1 seconds left.
Staff from both teams rushed to break up the scuffle, and officials disqualified VCU’s Barry Evans and Saint Louis’ Quentin Jones, along with nearly all bench players from both teams.
The teams returned to the court and Lewis converted three free throws before time expired.
Amari McCottry, Avila and Ishan Sharma added 13 points apiece for Saint Louis (25-2, 13-1 Atlantic 10), which bounced back after suffering its first conference loss on Tuesday at Rhode Island. The Billikens have won 20 straight at Chaifetz Arena and have a two-game lead in the conference and the head-to-head tiebreaker over VCU (21-7, 12-3) with two weeks left in the regular season.
NO. 22 MIAMI (OHIO) 91, BOWLING GREEN 77
OXFORD, Ohio (AP) — Luke Skaljac scored a career-high 22 points, Eian Elmer had 21 and Miami University remained the lone unbeaten team in Division I with a victory over Bowling Green.
The RedHawks (27-0, 14-0 Mid-American Conference) got 10 points each from Peter Suder and Antwone Woolfolk to help extend their home winning streak to 30, tying Duke for the nation’s longest.
Javontae Campbell led Bowling Green (16-12, 7-8) with 24 points. Josiah Shackelford and Mayar Wol each had 12.
Cleveland Browns star Myles Garrett was among the sellout crowd 10,127 at Millett Hall.
The RedHawks have had some close calls during their record streak with six games decided by five or fewer points and three overtime wins. Bowling Green kept Friday’s game relatively close for a while.
Bowling Green led 21-19 in the first half, but the RedHawks responded with a 10-0 run.
Skaljac scored 16 of his points in the first half and went 3 of 5 from three-point range helping Miami build a 45-30 halftime lead.
Miami led by 18 points early in the second half, but Wol’s 3-pointer got the Falcons within eight with 13:06 left. The RedHawks committed 12 turnovers helping the Falcons keep it close.