By JOHN MARSHALL
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.
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 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.
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
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 the winner between Pittsburgh and Chaminade in the fifth-place game on Wednesday.
Missouri faces the Pittsburgh-Chaminade loser in Wednesday’s seventh-place game.