Dec. 18, 2000
By DAN GELSTON
Associated Press Writer
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Purdue knows how to close out games. Against Santa Clara, it showed it can put away them early, too.
Kenny Lowe scored a career-high 22 points, and four others also reached double-figures Monday night as Purdue beat Santa Clara 98-52, and won its fifth straight game.
After going on a 35-1 run in the second half against Valparaiso on Saturday, the Boilermakers opened the game with a 36-6 run. Eight players scored in the first half, and Purdue (6-2) made 11 of its first 15 shots.
Carson Cunningham, who had 13 points for the night, scored six points off of three first half steals, and Lowe made three 3-pointers in the half. His previous high point total was 17.
Rodney Smith scored 17, John Allison had 14 and Maynard Lewis scored 12 as 10 Boilermakers scored.
Conversely, the Broncos (4-5) shot 31 percent, and were harassed into 25 turnovers. They missed layups, put up airballs, and were two-of-14 from 3-point range.
The 46-point loss was the biggest in the Broncos' history. They had previously lost by 45 points to BYU in the 1967-68 season, and again to Stanford in 1998-99.
Purdue has won its last two games by 73 points.
It took Santa Clara 30 hours, a couple of delayed flights, and a shuttle bus from a Chicago hotel to arrive in West Lafayette because of bad weather.
Brian Vaka led the Broncos with 11 points.
Santa Clara played without leading scorer Brian Jones. Jones, who is averaging 18.9 points, was suspended for one game for a violation of team rules.