Booth lassoes Broncos, swats five in Lion victory

When Calvin Booth saw Rider's starting lineup in last Wednesday's first-round NIT matchup, he must have been licking his chops.

The Broncos went with a three-guard offense and the tallest player in that trio was 6-foot-4, which was a perfect situation for the Nittany Lions' 6-foot-11 center.

Maybe too perfect.

At the outset of the game, the Broncos used good ball movement to stymie the Lions and take a 10-point lead with 5 minutes and 48 seconds left in the half. The Broncos' ball movement also enabled guard TaTa Touomou to score seven first-half points.

Rider's ball movement also kept Booth guessing.

- Bronco center Ken Lacey

Which worked well in the first half as Booth blocked just one shot.

But as the saying goes about running and hiding, it was just a matter of time before Booth would catch the Broncos.

Booth was blocking shots in the second half like a gas station attendant swatting flies in the men's room.

"He only blocked a few," Harnum said, "but the way I saw it, I thought he hit a school record."

He tallied four swats in the second half and left the Broncos with the uneasy task of altering their shots.

"He's really tough," said Bronco center Ken Lacey. "He has great timing. As soon as you release the ball, he gets it and swats it away."

So where was Booth in the first half?

"I think he got more comfortable with his timing," Lacey said. "He never played us before, so he had to adjust to us."

Maybe so, since the Lions never really had time to scout their Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) opponent. In fact, Penn State hadn't played Rider since Jan. 10, 1981.

Yet Booth didn't want to use that as an excuse for his team's, and his own, poor first-half performance.

"We just had to focus more," Booth said. "I was upset with how we played in the first half and thought I had to step it up a bit.

"I'm the kind of player who likes to feel people out and see their moves. I don't think (not scouting Rider) had an affect on the game, though."

Booth also tacked on 14 points and grabbed four rebounds for the Lions. For the Lions to be successful against Dayton tonight, Penn State coach Jerry Dunn said the team has to get back to how it was in toward the end of the Big Ten schedule.

"I thought we were a shell of the team we were in the latter part of the year," he said. "We have to play better to survive in the NIT."

And Booth will have to continue to show why he was voted the Big Ten's Defensive Player of the Year.