No. 17 Purdue routs Utah State behind Haas, Mathias

[November 23, 2016]  Opponents know that when facing No. 17 Purdue, big men Caleb Swanigan and Isaac Haas will be difficult to contain.

But when the Boilermakers get a strong offensive performance from one of their guards - in this case a career best 25 points from Dakota Mathias - Purdue (3-1) is an extremely difficult matchup.

Center Haas scored a career-best 26 points, and Swanigan added 15, leading Purdue to an 85-64 victory over Utah State in the Cancun Challenge in Mexico on Tuesday night.

The Boilermakers (3-1) will play Auburn (4-0) and former Purdue point guard Ronnie Johnson in Wednesday's final.

The Boilermakers made 11 shots from 3-point range, including six from Mathias, who finished 9 of 10 from the field. Jalen Moore had 16 points for Utah State.

"Haas and Mathias had great games, and obviously Dakota got into a rhythm," Purdue coach Matt Painter said. "The only shot he missed was a bad shot. Everything he was shooting the last couple days in practice has been going in. He just got into a really good rhythm."

Mathias was a happy Boilermaker after this game.

"I had a lot of games like that in high school, so it was just about staying with the process," Mathias said. "I was just telling the other guys that I was playing though my defense. When you don't focus on offense, shooting and scoring the ball tend to go your way.

"I was focusing on defense, rebounding and staying into my guy, different things like that. That's just scouting report stuff. When you do that, I think offense comes."

Purdue entered this game with 22 made 3-pointers in three games and made half that number against Utah State.

"We have good 3-point shooters across the board, and we're only going to get better with the addition of Ryan Cline," Painter said. "So, we're excited about this group."

Cline was suspended for the regular-season's first four games after a summer arrest for possession of marijuana, Cline is a sophomore guard.

After the Aggies (3-1) tied the game at 25, Purdue finished the first half on a 14-2 run, seizing a 39-27 lead.

Haas scored 13 first-half points, Swanigan added 10 and Mathias had six. Swanigan had eight first-half rebounds and Haas had five. Moore had eight points for Utah State.

NOTES: Purdue PG P.J. Thompson entered with only only turnover in 77 minutes of playing time this season, but committed two Tuesday. ... The Boilermakers are attempting to win a November tournament for a second consecutive season, having won the 2015 Hall of Fame Tipoff in Connecticut. ... This was the first meeting between Purdue and Utah State. ... Auburn defeated Texas Tech 67-65 in Tuesday's other semifinal.

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