Dec. 28, 2005
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Senior Matt Kiefer posted the first double-double of his career in leading Purdue (6-4) to a 62-54 win over Tennessee-Martin (5-4) Wednesday night at Mackey Arena.
The 6-10 forward from Evansville finished the game with 14 points along with a career high 11 rebounds, plus three assists and two blocks. Freshmen Nate Minnoy and Chris Lutz also contributed 15 and 11 points, respectively.
Purdue's defense largely domintated this game, in which it tied a season high with 43 rebounds and forced 15 UTM turnovers. The Skyhawks weren't helping themselves much either, shooting just 30 percent from the field on 18-of-60 shooting.
UTM was incredibly dreadful from the three-point arc, making just one of 13 attempts; however, the Skyhawks did sink 17-of-19 shots from the charity stripe, including 15 in the second half.
Tennessee-Martin rallied toward the end, bringing a 16-point Purdue lead down to eight during the closing minutes, but the Skyhawks couldn't overcome their poor first-half shooting. UTM didn't scored its first basket until 15:05 of the first half, then was shutout over the final six minutes.
After trailing by as many as four in the first half, 10-6, Purdue went on a 27-8 run to enter halftime with a 33-18 lead. Minnoy was key during this run, pouring in 10 of his 15 points, while Keifer contributed six points, five defensive rebounds and a blocked shot.
Holding a 23-18 lead with 3:29 left in the first half, Minnoy brought the Mackey Arena crowd of 8,085 to its feet after stealing the ball from McClenon Tolliver and running back the other way for a slam dunk.
The Boilermakers continued to build on their lead through the early part of the second half thanks to a Lutz three-pointer and a handful of foul shots from Minnoy and Kiefer. Purdue reached its biggest lead of the game and second half of 19 points following a Korey Spates jump shot with 12 minutes left.
The Boilermakers' next contest and final non-conference game of the season takes place Friday at No. 4 Memphis, which improved to 10-1 following its 83-72 win over No. 8 Gonzaga. The Boilermakers and Tigers tip off at 8 p.m.
Purdue begins its Big Ten season at Northwestern on Jan. 4.