It would be hard to imagine the Penn State men's basketball team without its freshmen.

During the Nittany Lions' 94-46 win over Lock Haven on Friday night at the Bryce Jordan Center, freshmen Geary Claxton, Danny Morrissey and Mike Walker started the game, with fellow freshmen Brandon Hassell and John Kelly came in as substitutions and all made big contributions.

Due to the recent loss of sophomore guards Ben Luber and Marlon Smith, the Lions have been forced to rely heavily on their freshmen to pick up the slack. Luber has asked to be an inactive member of the team and Smith turned his ankle early in the Penn State victory over Rutgers on Dec. 1. With Luber and Smith unavailable, coach Ed DeChellis has used Morrissey and Walker as his primary guards over the last two games with Walker taking over point guard duties.

DeChellis said after the game that he was pleased with being able to use many of his players in the game, but that he is looking forward to taking some of the weight off Morrissey and Walker's shoulders.

"I think it is a good time for us to get everybody to play," Dechellis said. "I wish we had some more guys in the back court to replace Walker and Morrissey."

The workload may be more than the freshmen guards were expecting, but they are handling themselves well so far. Claxton, Morrissey and Walker all played more than 30 minutes Friday and were among leaders in scoring, and assists.

"This has been a dream come true," Morrissey said. "On Wednesday, I told Mike [Walker] to look at the stands with the crowds all waving their hands -- it's something that we had only seen on television. We were finally there, and doing it, and doing it well."

Junior forward Aaron Johnson gave a lot of credit to the younger Lions, saying, "They contribute so much behind-the-scenes... If they keep stepping up, we will be a team and get wins."