Purdue’s Matt Painter earns 500th career win in 97-79 victory over Akron

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) – Trey Kaufman-Renn had 17 points and Oscar Cluff added 14 to power No. 2 Purdue to a 97-79 romp over Akron on Sunday night.

The win was the 500th of Matt Painter’s career. He has 475 with Purdue after getting 25 with Southern Illinois.

Kaufmann-Renn also had 15 rebounds while Cluff had 14 for the Boilermakers (4-0). Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer each scored 16 points and Omer Mayer had 14 points. Smith also had a team-high 10 assists while having an off-shooting night (4-of-12).

Purdue held a 45-26 rebounding edge, including a 19 offensive rebounds. That helped the Boilermakers to a 46-18 edge in points in the paint.

Tavari Johnson led the Zips (3-1) with 20 points. Evan Mahaffey had 12 points and Eric Mahaffey 10 for Akron. Shammah Scott, who was averaging 14.3 points per game for Akron, was held to nine points on 4-of-13 shooting.

The Boilermakers sank 8 of 12 3-pointers en route to a 52-39 halftime lead. Purdue did struggle from 3-point line in the second half, making just 1 of 11.

The 13-point halftime margin was Purdue’s largest of the opening 20 minutes.

Loyer scored 11 of Purdue’s first 15 points as the rest of the team had a slow start. With the score tied at 17-all, Mayer put the Boilermakers ahead for good with a 3-pointer with 12:20 left in the half. Mayer gave Purdue a lift with nine points off the bench in the first half.

The Boilermakers shot 53% in the first half while the Zips shot 42%.

The Boilermakers were without reserve forward Liam Murphy, who was sidelined with a shoulder injury.

Akron: Plays Iona on Friday in the Paradise Jam in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.

Purdue: Plays Memphis on Thursday in the Baha Mar Championship in Nassau, Bahamas.