Box Score WEST LAFAYETTE, Indiana – Purdue's massive front court made up of Vincent Edwards (6-foot-8), Caleb Swanigan (6-9) and Isaac Haas (7-2) is considered one of the best in the nation and it came as advertised on Friday night as the trio combined for 64 points and 37 rebounds to lead the 15^th-ranked Boilermakers to a 109-65 season opening win over McNeese.
 
But the undersized and underdog Cowboys held the lead for the first 12 minutes of the game behind accurate three-point shooting and the ability to rebound the ball before Purdue was able to string together a couple of late half runs to take a 47-32 lead into the half.
 
"Those kids are very physical basketball players," said McNeese coach Dave Simmons about the Boilermakers. "The first 10-12 minutes I'm very pleased with the way we played. And the biggest difference is we made shots early. They just dominated us inside. They were too much for us to handle."
 
Swanigan, a member of the preseason Naismith Award top 50 players, led Purdue with 23 points with 20 rebounds. Edwards added 19 points and 11 boards while Haas scored 22 points and six rebounds.
 
Purdue held a 59-28 advantage over the Cowboys on the glass and outscored McNeese 29-4 in second chance points.
 
True freshman Kalob Ledoux led McNeese with 16 points in his collegiate debut while Jamaya Burr and James Harvey each added 15 points. Newcomer Howard Thomas led the team with eight rebounds to go along with an eight point scoring night.
 
"We were able to get some rebounds early and that turned into us making some shots," said Simmons. "But we got some guys in foul trouble early too and that hurt us as the half wore on.
 
"We made some good shots but then when they got ahead pretty good, we still took some good shots but we were in a hurry in taking them."
 
That led to an explosive second half for Purdue in outscoring McNeese 62-33 in the final 20 minutes.
 
McNeese trailed just once in the first 12 minutes and led by as many as five points after a Kalob Ledoux three gave the Cowboys a 19-14 lead with 10:20 to play in the first half. Purdue tied things at 19-19 and then again at 22-22 with 8:32 to play before scoring 14 straight after that to build a 36-22 lead with 4:57 to play.
 
The Cowboys battled back behind another 3 from Ledoux then a jumper by AJ Brown made it a 10-point game at 40-30 with 3:09 to play before closing the half on a 7-2 run.
 
Things got out of hand in the first five minutes of the second half as the Boilermakers strung together a 19-6 run to build a 64-38 lead with 15:26 left.
 
McNeese never managed to get the deficit under 20 the rest of the way.
 
Purdue connected on 55.7 percent of its shots from the field (39 of 70) and after hitting just 3 of 11 from long range in the first half, rallied to knock down 6 of 12 in the second to finish 9 of 23 from behind the arc. The Boilermakers also hit 22 of 31 from the free throw line.
 
McNeese went the opposite direction in its shooting from long range from the first to second half. After the first 20 minutes, the Cowboys sank 7 of 13 behind the arc but managed to put just 1 in 20 attempts through the net in the second half.
 
For the game, the Cowboys hit 24 of 77 for 31.2 percent from the field and were 8 of 33 for 24.2 percent from 3-point range. McNeese also hit 9 of 10 from the free throw line.
 
McNeese will be back in action on Tuesday night when it hosts Louisiana College in Burton Coliseum in its home opener.