Junior guard Carsen Edwards scored 24 points to lead Purdue to a 73-62 victory over visiting Belmont on Saturday at West Lafayette, Ind.

Edwards, who was 9-of-21 from the field, had five rebounds and three steals.

Sophomore center Matt Haarms chipped in with 12 points and eight rebounds for Purdue (8-5). Purdue senior guard Ryan Cline was held to three points on 1-of-8 shooting. Grady Eifert had a team-high nine rebounds for Purdue, which held a 40-30 edge.

Kevin McClain led the Bruins (9-2) with 21 points, doing most of the damage in the second half. Nick Muszynski had 14 points for the Bruins.

Dylan Windler, who was averaging 19.2 points entering the game, struggled from the field with 3-of-12 shooting en route to seven points. Windler, from Indianapolis, did have a team-high 11 rebounds.

Purdue shot 43.6 percent for the game while Belmont hit 36.4 percent.

Purdue was cruising comfortably in the second half before Belmont used a 14-0 run in 2:15 to cut its deficit to 57-48 with 7:38 to go. Purdue's Nojel Eastern hit two free throws to end the scoreless skid.

The closest the Bruins got was seven points at 61-54 on McClain's 3-pointer with 5:23 left.

Eastern, who was 3 of 12 from the foul line in the first 12 games, made 6 of 7 free throws to finish with eight points.

Purdue opened the second half with a 10-4 edge to expand the lead to 50-28.

The Boilermakers finished the first half with seven unanswered points to take a 40-24 halftime lead. Purdue sank 15 of 29 shots for 51.7 percent in the first half.

In contrast, Belmont was 9 of 30 from the field for 30 percent and 4 of 17 from 3-point range. The Bruins were scoreless for the final 3:14 of the opening half

The Bruins played without Caleb Hollander (11.5 points per game), who was sidelined with bronchitis.

--Field Level Media