At some time in the future science will probably have the capability of cloning people. Rutgers' Coach Bob Wenzel probably hopes there could be two of RU forward Keith Hughes.

Last night in Rec Hall, Hughes netted 25 points by shooting 9-of-16 from the field and 6-of-9 from the free throw line. He wasn't, however, lighting it up in the first half as he scored only eight points. But in the second half, with the Lions (17-6, 10-4) keying on the 3-point shooting Donnell Lumpkin, he showed the real threat he can be as Penn State beat FU, 80-69.

"I think Keith played great," Wenzel said. "We really tried to go to him in the second half. He's been very weary, but he looked a little more like himself tonight."

Hughes did make his presence known early on though. After a tip in 5:53 into the game, he got the ball down low from Rick Dadika and slammed it to pull the Knights (12-13, 8-5) within nine at 18-9.

He didn't score again until there was 3:33 left in the half when he converted on one of two free throws. He again saved the best until last as he hit a 3-point bomb with 2:13 left to make the score 37-30 in favor of the Lions.

Wenzel made an adjustment at halftime to free Hughes up, and in the second half Hughes looked like he was playing the game by himself as he got wide open for jump shots and calmly hit them.

"We were intentionally going to him in the second half," Wenzel said. "We ran something where we isolate him a little bit and we needed to get it inside. I was very pleased with the way we did get the ball to him. I think he did a good job when he got it.

"We were just running some motion offense, and he was just trying to stay behind people at the baseline and try to get the guy to turn his head a little bit. And of course they were very concerned with Lumpkin; I think and Earl (Duncan) so they were out on people. So, the passing lanes opened up a little bit."

Hughes scored five of six Knights' baskets to start the second half. The 6'8", 235-pound junior moved his way down inside and knocked in anything that came his way.

Of those five baskets, the longest was an 8-footer and the last one came on a layup. He followed that with another layup, a 10-footer, another layup and two free throws. The Lions did, however, shut him down in the last three minutes of the game.

Going into the game Coach Bruce Parkhill was concerned with the 3-point shooting of Lumpkin, who took over the job from Tom Savage, who was declared academically ineligible.

As it turned out, the Lions' pressure on Lumpkin opened it up for Hughes.

"I don't think we played a great defensive game tonight," Parkhill said. "But Hughes is just a great, outstanding player."

"I thought he scored a lot of key buckets for them," point guard Freddie Barnes added. "He's a hard worker and I really like his game because he can go inside and out. He's tough to guard, but I think we did a pretty good job against him. He could have hurt us a lot, but he didn't"