Box Score
WEST LAFAYETTE, IND. – They knew it wouldn't be easy. And in the end, playing the 19
th-ranked team in the country on its home court was a formidable task indeed. When the final buzzer sounded, Purdue University improved to 4-0 with its 106-64 win over the Fairfield University men's basketball team on Saturday night.
Fairfield did what it could defensively, facing the prospect of handling 7-foot-, 2-inch Isaac Haas as well as containing the quality outside shooters that grace the Purdue roster. The Stags did take away the inside game for most of the first half as Purdue managed to shoot 33 percent inside the three-point arc (7 of 21). But with the defense tight in the paint, Purdue unleashed its three-point shooters, namely Dakota Mathias, P.J. Thompson, and Vincent Edwards.
Mathias made all six of his long-range jumpers and all eight of his field goal attempts on his way to a game-high 23 points. And when the Stags stepped out to contest the three-point shot, the Boilermaker shooters just stepped back three-feet further and made nearly all of those NBA-range three pointers.
"The big takeaway from tonight was that we played a really good team tonight," Head Coach
Sydney Johnson said. "When we thought we took one option, they went with the other option and really hurt us. We tried to slow down their big guys, especially Haas who is a future pro, they came out and made threes."
Purdue's first 15 points were from behind the three-point arc which helped the home team build a 15-3 lead in the opening three-plus minutes. Fairfield started to solve the Purdue defense by scoring off back-to-back possessions to cut the lead to 10 points at 17-7, courtesy of layups from
Tyler Nelson and Wassef Methani.
The Stags held their own for the next few minutes and trailed by 11 points at 21-10 before Purdue used a 14-2 run to take its first 20-point lead of the evening at 35-12 at the 9:52 mark. During that 14-point string, the Boilermakers made four three pointers with Mathias being responsible for three of those baskets.
Fairfield stretched its defense and challenged around the three-point line, but Mathias and Vincent Edwards just stepped back further and continued to make shots. Fairfield continued to compete as best it could against its nationally-ranked opponent but the Boilermakers were relentless, finishing the first half by shooting 51 percent from the floor and 72 percent from three-point range.
"I do like how our guys competed," Coach Johnson said. "I love the fact that Tyler, Jerome, and Jonathan held the team together and that's a huge takeaway for us. But obviously, we want to be on this stage, but we want to have a better account for us so we have to work hard so that we could possibly earn another opportunity at the end of the season."
Coach Johnson also turned to his youngsters in this game and they responded well, especially considering the atmosphere created by the near 15,000 fans in attendance.
Jesus Cruz was the team's top scorer off the bench with 10 points, but also added a pair of assists and picked up four of Fairfield's five steals.
Taj Benning played 16 minutes off the bench as well and netted three points with three rebounds.
Kevin Senghore-Peterson also enjoyed a solid night with nine points, six rebounds with an assist in 24 minutes.
"Jesus, Taj, and Kevin were exceptional especially being thrown into the fire in front of a packed crowd against a team that I think is better than their number 19 ranking. Purdue is a really, really good team. And our three freshmen did not look out of place in this type of game so I am really happy with the progress that they made and the nice effort they put forth even though the score was not what we had hoped."
Fairfield will continue its Midwest tour when it returns to Ohio next weekend for three games at Wright State in Dayton. The Stags will open the event by playing Jacksonville University on Friday, Gardner-Webb on Saturday, and host Wright State on Sunday.
