Ed Fogell moved into 10th place (1,023 points) on the men's basketball team's all-time scoring list last night as Penn State became the the first team to defeat St. Bonaventure at the Reilly Center this season, 73-59.

The senior center scored 17 points as the Lions (11-5, 5-3 in the Atlantic 10) used an explosive second half to put the Bonnies (6-8, 2-4) away once and for all after almost throwing the game away in the first half.

"The guys really played hard," Coach Bruce Parkhill said in his post-game radio show. "This is a tough place to win, as evidenced by (the Bonnies') record here. Their tradition here is very strong and their fans are very vocal. This is a great win for us."

Penn State controlled the opening tip and the first four minutes of the game, darting out to a 12-4 lead thanks to eight points from Fogell and four fouls from St. Bonaventure.

After Fogell's turnaround jumper with 16 minutes left in the half, the Bonnies began a 12-4 run of their own. With 13:30 left and the score 16-12 in favor of the Lions, Parkhill pulled his entire staring lineup. The Bonnies soon evened the score.

The Lions spent the rest of the half trying to keep from falling over the edge. The Bonnies tied the score four more times and kept within two or three points until intermission. At halftime the Lions went to the locker room holding on to a 33-29 lead.

"I thought our defense tightened up in the second half," Parkhill said. "The first half I thought we gave them too much in the area of penetration and we let the net go a little bit, especially when we had the subs in. But in the second half they tightened up and did a good job."

Tightening up took some work, however. It took the Lions well over two minutes to score. The Bonnies went on a 7-0 run before Fogell finally converted on two free throws to make the score 36-35 in favor of the Bonnies.

The Lions continued to struggle for the next three or four minutes, mainly from the outside. They were still in danger of losing the lead and needed a game plan.

"We wanted to get the ball inside," Parkhill said. "The kids inside did a great job of looking for one another. We had some excellent interior passing tonight. The kids outside were unselfish. We felt we could take it to them inside."

Finally, with 11:45 remaining, C.J. Johnson tipped in a Michael Jennings misfire to up the Lions' lead to 47-44 and begin a 9-1 run. With 5:40 remaining, Bonnies' point guard Rob Lanier hit a 3-pointer to bring his team within four.

In the next two minutes, however, the Bonnies sealed their own fate as they were called for goaltending on a shot from Jennings. In his objections, Coach Tom Chapman was issued a technical foul, after which Penn State got the ball back. The Lions turned a layup that probably wouldn't have dropped into a six-point trip to their end of the floor.

In the final few minutes, the Lions got the ball inside more and more, stifling every effort the Bonnies made.

"Originally, the shots we did take from the perimeter didn't drop," Parkhill said. "So the key to the game for us was our offensive rebounding during the second half."

In addition to the play of Fogell, James Barnes also came up with a good performance. The last time the teams met, Barnes scored a career- high 27 points. This time he scored 17 and seemed to pop up under the bucket every time he was needed.

In addition, he put a muzzle on Bonnies' high-scoring forward Kenrick Hamilton. He denied Hamilton any real defensive power and also held him to a mere three points.

"We thought we'd go to all the guys inside," Parkhill said. "We felt that if they were active and executed well that they could get the ball and put it in the hoop. Jimmy Barnes got a couple of big stickbacks in the second half and that kept our momentum going."

The Lions now move into a tie with West Virginia for fourth place in the A-10. They are a half-game out of third, which is currently occupied by Rhode Island.