Purdue routs West Virginia 79-52 at Mackey Arena

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - For the third time in four years the Purdue men's basketball team took a break from Big Ten Conference play to take on West Virginia at Mackey Arena. The Boilermakers did not disappoint the home crowd as they knocked off the Mountaineers 79-52.

Leading 15-11, D.J. Byrd banked in a three-pointer from the top of the key that jump started he and the Boilermakers. Byrd would follow that shot with two more three-pointers as Purdue took a 37-23 lead into halftime.

Purdue would only add to it's lead in the second half and extended the lead to as many as 32 points. Most of the production today came from Byrd, who scored a game high 17 points while also grabbing 5 rebounds and dishing out 4 assists.

Freshman Rapheal Davis added 16 points for the Boilermakers and contributed 12 of those points in the second half. Redshirt sophomore Anthony Johnson scored 12 points while junior Terone Johnson added 11 for the Boilermakers (10-8), who won their third straight game.

Purdue shot 49 percent from the field and out-rebounded the Mountaineers 44-34. It was a rough day all around for the Mountaineers who shot just 29 percent from the field, and they had an assist to turnover ratio of 6 to 17.

Purdue has always relied on good defense and the Boilermakers have been seeing success at that end of the floor lately. West Virginia was the third consecutive opponent Purdue has held below 34 percent shooting. Penn State shot 26 percent Sunday and Nebraska shot 33 percent in Lincoln, Nebraska on Wednesday night.