Boilermakers rout Missouri 82-61 in Maui

LAHAINA, Hawaii -- Purdue lost its Maui Invitational opener in the worst possible way: By not playing hard enough in the first half.

Stung by the slow start in their loss to Kansas State, the Boilermakers made sure there was no easing into their game against Missouri.

Rapheal Davis scored 22 points and Purdue ran away from Missouri in the first half for an 82-61 win over the Tigers Tuesday in the Maui Invitational loser's bracket.

Coming off a tough loss to Kansas State in its opener, Purdue (4-1) was sharp at both ends against the young Tigers while building a 25-point halftime lead.

The Boilermakers struggled at times during the second half, but were so far in front that it didn't matter.

"We watched film yesterday and we kind of saw that we didn't play hard. And that is one thing that's unacceptable," Purdue guard Jon Octeus said. "You never want to say we lost the game because we didn't play hard enough. So we just took that approach."

Missouri (2-3) had no answer for Purdue's physical, aggressive defense in the first half while falling into a big hole. The Tigers played better over the game's final 10 minutes, but had no chance of finishing off the comeback from a deficit that climbed to 34 points in the second half.

Johnathan Williams III had 14 points and Keith Shamburger added 11 for Missouri.

"The first half was embarrassing," Missouri coach Kim Anderson said. "We didn't play very well. I thought Purdue did a great job. They had us back on our heels. We didn't execute very well, obviously."

The Tigers kept up with No. 3 Arizona behind their defense in the Maui opener, using a variety of looks to frustrate the Wildcats in the first half.

Missouri lost grip of the game in the second half, when Arizona started hitting shots and the Tigers couldn't hold onto the ball. Missouri had 17 turnovers that led to 24 points for Arizona in the 72-53 loss.

Purdue's turnover problems were even worse in its loss to Kansas State.

Kansas State scored 15 of its first 19 points off Purdue turnovers and built a 20-point lead before the Boilermakers shot their way back behind Kendall Stephens. He had 14 of his 21 points in the second half, but Purdue came up short, losing 88-79.

The Boilermakers had a much easier time of it against Missouri, pressuring the Tigers into mistakes and missed shots while turning the game into a runaway quickly.

Missouri missed seven of its first eight shots and went nearly six minutes without a field goal as Purdue built a quick 11-point lead. The Boilermakers kept adding to it, pushing the lead to 45-20 by halftime as the Tigers continued to clank away.

"I thought today we were ready to go and we really competed," Purdue coach Matt Painter said. "You can learn a lot from one loss. There is no need to have two losses, but you can learn a lot from one loss."

Missouri shot 7 of 29 in the first half while Purdue went 15 for 26 to put the game out of reach before the second half even started.

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TIP-INS

Purdue: The Boilermakers had a 41-28 rebounding advantage. ... Davis made 14 of 18 free throws.

Missouri: The Tigers had one fewer turnover than Purdue (16-15), but the Boilermakers turned those into 23 points while Missouri had 12 points off turnovers. ... The Tigers made 12 of 26 shots in the second half and were 16 of 20 on free throws overall.

UP NEXT

Purdue moves on to face BYU in the fifth-place game on Wednesday.

Missouri faces Chaminade in Wednesday's seventh-place game.

MONTAQUE'S QUIET GAME

Freshman Montaque Gill-Caesar was Missouri's leading scorer through the first three games of the season and had a team-high 13 against Arizona. He was far less aggressive against the Boilermakers, scoring two points on 1-of-6 shooting.

"When you look on the score sheet it says Montaque Gill-Caesar is a leading scorer, so they're going to guard you," Anderson said. "When you're young, you've got to learn how to overcome that. You have to learn how to move harder, how to come off screens better, how to guard better. It's not just him, it's everybody."