No. 23 Illini shut down No. 12 Purdue 66-48

[February 09, 2009]  CHAMPAIGN (AP) -- Mike Davis scored 14 points and pulled down a career-high 16 rebounds Saturday, leading No. 23 Illinois to a 66-48 victory over 12th-ranked Purdue.

Demetri McCamey added 13 points for Illinois (19-5, 7-4 Big Ten), which never trailed while taking advantage of the absence of Purdue star Robbie Hummel to pull into a tie with Ohio State for second in the conference. Both teams are chasing Michigan State.

Hummel has been out with a hairline fracture in his back. He was cleared to play in the Boilermakers' loss to the Buckeyes on Tuesday, but still hasn't made it off the bench.

Illinois held Purdue (18-5, 6-4) to season lows in scoring, shooting percentage (32.2 percent) and 3-point shooting (2-of-15).

JaJuan Johnson scored 17 points to lead Purdue, while Lewis Jackson added 12.

The Illini pulled away late with a 23-6 run, a stretch of just over 10 minutes in which Purdue hit just one field goal.

But the Boilermakers, in spite of their offensive struggles, were never more than a couple of baskets and a defensive stop away from the Illini most of the afternoon.

Every brief Purdue run, though, was followed by a cold stretch and points from the Illini that revved their crowd up to earsplitting volumes.

Illinois opened the second half with a 9-4 run to go ahead 41-32, but Purdue rumbled right back with five straight points, including a crowd-calming dunk by Johnson, to pull to within 41-37.

Purdue went cold again midway through the second half, hitting just one field goal over a five-minute span. Illinois used that stretch to open a 12-point gap at 53-41 with just under eight minutes to play.

With their cold shooting, the Boilermakers were forced to look inside for openings that just weren't there. Without Hummel, Purdue's biggest inside threat, 6-foot-9 Namanja Calasan was just 1-of-7 on the afternoon.

Davis, on the other hand, thrived in the paint and outside.

The 6-9 Illinois sophomore had nine rebounds by halftime, and scored a half dozen of his points on soft jump shots.

Illinois' late run was keyed by seven points from Chester Frazier and six from Davis.

Frazier, an often-injured guard known for his defense, finished the game with 10 points.

Two of them, from under the basket and punctuated with a fist pump and a roar from the crowd, effectively finished the Boilermakers. The Illini went ahead 55-41 with 7:13 to play, and Purdue never again threatened.

[Associated Press; By DAVID MERCER]

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