WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The twenty-third ranked men's basketball team in the country hit 12 3-pointers Friday night. North Carolina A&T did not hit one. That differential against one of the top teams in America hurt the Aggies as they fell to No. 23 Purdue 81-40 in both teams' respective season openers.
No Aggie scored in double figures as the Aggies shot 24.1 percent from the floor. The Boilermakers meanwhile placed six players in double figures as Kendall Stephens led the way off the bench with 14 points on 4-for-10 shooting from 3-point range. Ryan Cline added 13 points as he connected on 4 of 6 3-point shots. Two Boilermakers also recorded double-doubles as Caleb Swanigan finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds and Isaac Haas had 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Senior Bruce Beckford led the Aggies with nine points and five rebounds.
Things didn't start badly for the Aggies. Ede Egharevba's jumper four minutes into the game gave the Aggies a 6-5 lead. It took the Boilermakers a little more than four minutes before they were able to score. When they did, it was a P.J. Thompson 3-pointer that gave Purdue an 8-6 lead.
After a Rapheal Davis layup gave the Boilermakers a four-point edge, Redshirt sophomore Jamin Lackey scored off a Beckford pass to make it 10-8 with 11:48 to play in the first half. The Aggies stalled from there. N.C. A&T scored on just two field goals over the next seven minutes. When sophomore guard Sam Hunt connected on a jumper at the 4:33 mark, the Boilermakers had extended their lead to 25-12.
After the Hunt bucket, the Boilermakers went on a 17-2 run to all but put the game away. The Aggies ended the night by missing all 15 of their 3-pointers. N.C. A&T's next contest doesn't get any easier as they head to Gainesville, Fla., to face the Florida Gators, Monday at 8 p.m.
