Botts Pours in a Career-High 30 in Rout of Centenary

Thursday, December 30

Shreveport, La.

8:00 p.m.

Purdue Fort Wayne

Centenary

Ben Botts scored a career-high 30 points vs. Centenary

Botts Pours in a Career-High 30 in Rout of Centenary

12/30/2010 10:56:56 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Shreveport, LA - Senior guard Ben Botts poured in a career-high 30 points as IPFW remained perfect in conference play with an 83-51 rout of Centenary on Thursday night at the Gold Dome.

Botts' 30-point effort came on the strength of a career-high eight 3-pointers, just two shy of the IPFW all-time record of 10 in a game set by Duane Shears vs. Indianapolis on February 27, 1992. His eight tie him with former 'Don DeWitt Scott for third all-time.

Centenary (0-15, 0-4 Summit League) dictated the play in the game early on, holding the lead until midway through the first half, but that's when Botts began his assault.

The senior from Muncie, Indiana hit two triples in a row to give the 'Dons their first lead of the game at 16-14, with 9:18 left.

From there, IPFW went on a 25-8 run to finish the half, punctuated by a Botts 3-ball at the buzzer.

IPFW broke the game wide open in the second half. Senior forward Oleg Kovalov's triple gave IPFW a 33-point lead, and they never looked back.

Botts' eight triples were also one shy of a Gold Dome record.

Sophomore guard Frank Gaines (11), junior forward Jason Smeathers (10) and junior guard Jeremy Mixon (10) also scored in double-digits for the 'Dons, who shot 50.8% from the floor.

Freshman guard Aaron Harwell paced the Gents with 13 points.

With the win, IPFW improves to 9-4 overall and 4-0 in conference play. They sit atop the standings tied with Oakland who beat Oral Roberts 85-77.

The Mastodons return to action next Thursday night, hosting Western Illinois at the Memorial Coliseum. Tip time is 7:00 p.m.

~Dons~