If there has been one constant for the Penn State men's basketball team all season long, it's been inconsistency. Brief flashes of solid play have been overshadowed by youthful mistakes.
In spite of these lapses, freshman Geary Claxton has found a way to be the Nittany Lions' (7-12, 1-5 Big Ten) most consistent player, day-in and day-out. Last night's 68-62 road loss to Ohio State (13-7, 2-4) was no different.
With 18 points, the forward was the only Lion to reach double digits in scoring and was two away from tying his career high of 20 points.
He did tie a career high with rebounds, collecting nine on the evening.
"I felt that I could take them inside and rebound the ball offensively and get around them," Claxton said after the game on the Penn State Sports Network.
"I just tried my best effort to get every single rebound that I could."
Penn State coach Ed DeChellis was once again satisfied with the youngster's effort.
"I just thought he played very well," DeChellis said. "Geary's a competitor, and he did a great job. We're trying to go to him. We're trying to get him the ball as much as we can where he can score with it, and I thought he did a very good job."
The statistics don't mean much to Claxton, provided they come in a losing effort.
"I'm just just trying to play real hard, we're trying to win," Claxton said. "Every time I step on the floor I'm representing the university, and I want to win. I really can't say much right now; I'm really frustrated."
Making matters worse was the fact that Penn State's last attempt with 11 seconds left was a play designed to go to Claxton.
However, sophomore guard Ben Luber took the inbound pass; he was unable to connect on a short jumper, ending the Lions' hope of pulling off an upset victory.
"We were trying to run a play to get the ball into Geary," DeChellis said.
"They were really pushing out on everybody so we thought we'd try to at least get two and get a quick timeout. [Then we would] see if we could get a steal on the baseline, or Geary on the post," he added.
Claxton hopes that next time, the Lions' final opportunity in the waning seconds goes their way.
"In the second half we came out and played harder," he said. "We just fell short tonight."
