Sophomore point guard Dan Earl stepped up and calmly drained a three-point shot at the 15-minute, 52-second mark of the first half in Penn State's 79-51 victory over Northwestern on Saturday.

It was not a spectacular shot. It gave Penn State an early 7-6 lead, but more importantly it provided Earl with something he greatly needed -- confidence.

Earl, recently suffering from shooting woes, more than doubled his scoring average by exploding for 15 points and five assists while committing just one turnover in 28 minutes.

"It did feel better to knock down a few jumpers for a change at the beginning," a relaxed Earl said with a slight grin.

Earl earned the right to smile. On a day in which the Lions started sluggish, the 6-foot-3-inch, 178 pound floor leader for the Nittany Lions was literally perfect in the first half.

Earl hit for 13 points on 4-of-4 shooting from the field -- including 3-of-3 from behind the three-point arc -- while dishing out three assists in the opening stanza.

"I thought Danny played a very good game," Lion Coach Bruce Parkhill said. "He bounced back. I'm happy to see that because he really played well before the Indiana game."

But Earl's perfect shooting performance did not last. The Lion point guard finally missed a field goal at the 14:50 mark of the second half when a three-point attempt went astray.

In total, Earl would connect on 1-of-3 shots from the field in the second half.

And that is what concerned Earl after the game -- field goal percentage and shot selection.

"We really want to work on trying to get better, open shots," Earl said. "I think if we move the ball around and get more open shots, possibly our percentages will go up."

The same can be said for Northwestern. As Wildcat Coach Ricky Byrdsong pointed out, if the Wildcats had hit a few more of their shots, the game might have been different.

"To not hit the shots, then follow it up with turnovers was critical," Byrdsong said. "That was a stretch that cost us the game."

But the day would belong to Earl. Despite cooling off somewhat on the offensive end in the second half, Earl made up for it on the defensive end.

The highly-touted recruit from Medford Lakes, N.J. drew the assignment of guarding Northwestern's top player -- 6-foot-5-inch forward Cedric Neloms -- for large stretches of the game. But Earl was up to the challenge.

Despite surrendering 19 points to the taller Neloms, Earl shadowed him most of the game and forced three turnovers in the process.

Wildcat guard Geno Carlisle --Earl's other defensive assignment -- was shut down. Carlisle was held scoreless for the entire game and managed just four rebounds and five assists.