Leiner dribbles out the clock, and Penn State goes to 6-1 on the season with a 78-54 win over Towson.
Stats below:
Towson.........Penn State
FG....20-68..........29-60
3Pt....5-21............7-18
FT.....9-15............13-19
PF......17...............12
I gotta say, it's been a pleasure making the trip to this historic site and bring you game coverage. That being said, there's a press conference any second now and a bus soon afterwards that I need to get on to head home. For Mink, Brown and myself, have safe rides back to Happy Valley and be sure to catch the Lions' next game, Wednesday, at Georgia Tech as part of the annual Big Ten/ACC Challenge. Those of you without the Big Ten Network (or CN8) will be in luck, as ESPN2 will televise the action at 7:30. Have a good one, folks.
***
Junior Hairston with a pretty tip-in off the miss and, to top it off, swats Jones on the other end. That, my friends, is what we call too little, too late.
On the Tigers' end, Tony Durant sees a pass go righttt off his back that Pringle scoops up and takes coast-to-coast for the easy two, putting the Lions back up by 28. No relation to NBA star Kevin...I hope. I thought we saw the last of these games after we left Happy Valley? Oh well, 'Nova/URI should be a good one.
Freshman Chris Babb is all alone and, with the crowd chanting "Dunk it!" he sees the ball roll right off his hands and around the rim. Pringle starts another fast break on the ensuing possession and hits the trailing Brooks for a nice jam...but wait! His clanks right off the rim. The other freshman, Cammeron Woodyward ends up with it and nails a three. Those two possessions are a microcosm of the two freshmen's seasons.
A few minutes later, and Babb hits nothing but air with three-point try, as it goes out of bounds. He looked like the MAN in practices, what's going on?
OK, so he hits a pretty bank shot on the next possession for his first career field goal.
Will Leiner and Steve Kirkpatrick, a pair of walk-ons, get on the floor. DeChellis then signals for a timeout, the ref blows the whistle, then the coach just asks for a sub so the third walk-on, Adam Highberger, can get in, speeding the game up without the break in action. Love it, Eddy D!
Kirkpatrick attempts an open jumper right in front of the Penn State bench, drawing the players to their feet, but it rattles out.
Another break in the action, 2:14 to go and three walk-ons and a pair of freshmen on the court for the Lions,
PSU 78, Towson 48
***
As the lead escalates to 30, Jeff Brooks shows no signs of holding up, diving on the floor for a loose-ball and making an effort to call the time. The ref right there instead called a jump-ball, and Brooks got up holding his right forearm and walking to the bench. Seems like the poor guy can't catch a break after suffering a concussion in a preseason practice.
Well, that was quick, as Brooks comes in at the next dead ball to replace Jones, who gets a nice ovation from the bench. Meanwhile, Brooks wastes no time going after it, taking it to the paint before missing a baby-hook amid a few defenders.
After only four combined fouls through the game's first 12 minutes, the second half has proven to be a more aggressive one, with 12 combined fouls within the first 11 minutes after the break. Danny Morrissey draws the seventh on Towson, as heads to the line and knocks down a pair with his team in the bonus.
Cornley gets a warm welcome from his coaches and teammates after being taken out for Jones. On the other end, Jones draws a foul on Calvin Lee, his fifth, which brings the proverbail "Left, Right....Sitdown!" chant from the small group of Nittany Nation fans sitting behind Penn State's basket.
Pringle replaces Battle, and he gets a nice welcome to the sidelines as well.
Break in the action with 7:48 to go and the Lions well on their way to a 6-1 start,
PSU 67, Towson 41.
***
Seated to my left is Scout.com 3-star center prospect from the class of 2010, Markus Kennedy, who is here to catch Penn State and, later on, Villanova, both of whom have made offers to the 6-9 stud.
I just chatted with the high schooler, and he told me he expects the basketball program at Penn State to soon be on par with the football program. The fact that Penn State is sticking in strong with other, more traditional basketball powers in the mix says a lot about Markus' feelings about the program.
Meanwhile, back on the court, Battle finds Pringle on the break and he makes a pretty reverse lay-in, capping off a quick Nittany Lion run that leads to another Towson timeout.
12:03 to go,
PSU 60, Towson 32
***
Hey folks, Matt Fortuna here to take you the rest of the way. I gotta say, after being upstairs at press row for home games at BJC and getting stuck high with the radio men last night, it is really something else to watch Division I basketball down near the court level.
Why didn't Talor Battle shoot that open three? How was that not a foul? All of players' (and refs') decisions seem to make much more sense from up close. Not to mention, the incredibly short amount of time players have for what many feel is a "good look" at the bucket.
Anyway, on the court, Talor Battle open things up with a pretty drive to the hoop for a lay-in and the foul. He connects from the charity stripe to make it a 19-point game. After a stuff by Andrew Jones at the other end, Battle finds Cornley down low for the two to make it 45-24, bringing us a Towson timeout and, for the third time since we've arrived here tonight, "Forever" by Chris Brown over the loudspeakers.
17:45 to go,
PSU 45, Towson 24
***
Penn State will set up on the near wing with Woodyard throwing it in. Pringle takes control but is pressured at midcourt by a double-team and wisely calls timeout.
The Lions will take another shot at things with 13.6 left and the shot clock off.
Pringle again takes control and finds Battle. Battle crosses to Woodyard and he buries a 3 with a couple of ticks left on the clock. That'll do it for the first half as Penn State is in command with a 16-point lead here at the Palestra.
HALFTIME - PENN STATE 40, TOWSON 24
Stats are a bit hard to come by here, but here are a few things of note at the break:
-Talor Battle leads all scorers with 12. Pringle has 7, while Brooks, Jones and Cornley each has 4.
-For Towson, Tony Franklin and Josh Thornton lead the way with 7 each.
-Penn State holds a significant edge in shooting, making 51.6% of its shots, compared to Towson's 35.7%.The Lions are 6-13 from 3 and the Tigers are just 2-9 from long range.
Some Philly Hoop Group youth teams are providing the halftime entertainment with about 10 minutes left until the second half begins. That'll do it for me, as my colleague Matt Fortuna will be taking over the blog for the second half.
***
The Penn State Nittany Nation student section is about 10 or 15 strong behind the basket to the left of us. The Palestra was just treated to a band-less version of "Rock and Roll."
Battle at the line and he knocks it down for a 4-point play that was interrupted by a media timeout in the middle.
Troy Franklin drills a deep 3 for Towson. Back down to an 8 point lead. Pringle misses a deep 3 but D.J. Jackson boxed out down low, pulled in the rebound, scored and drew the foul. Woodyard enters the game for Babb and Jackson finishes the 3-point play at the line.
Pringle with a crafty basket down low and it's 37-24 PSU. Hairston throws up a brick from 3 and Battle also misses a 3.
Shot clock off now as Penn State once again has the basketball. DeChellis yells out to hold for one but then calls a 30-second timeout.
20.5 seconds first half
Penn State 37, Towson 24
***
Battle takes a hard fall as he fouls Troy Franklin on a 3 point attempt. He misses the first buts hits the last two.
Babb misses a 3 and Brooks gets stripped of the rebound. Tony Durant throws up an ugly looking left-handed hook and PSU regains possession. Brooks with a hard drive to the basket but he came in a bit too hard and missed.
Babb does a nice job of drawing a charge and PSU once again has the ball up 26-13.
Penn State has cooled from the field as Morrissey misses a 3. Hairston connects for Towson for 2. And Cornley hits down low for the Lions.
Solid defense by Morrissey down low against Morris, but Morris still hit a little turn around jumper. Towson's half-court pressure defense is giving Penn State some problems as Cornley turns it over. Franklin cuts the lead to single digits.
Battle answers with a big 3 and sells a foul. He'll go to the line to try to convert the rare 4-point play.
3:35 first half
Penn State 31, Towson 19
***
Pringle misses a runner but Jeff Brooks' long arms beat the Towson defense to the ball and he follows for 2.
Nice pass from Talor Battle down low and Jones finished again. Towson answers with a Josh Thornton 3.
Towson now extends into a half-court 1-3-1 zone and almost comes away with a steal before Pringle missed and Brooks followed again.
We have a Chris Babb sighting as Pringle and Jones leave the game. Neither Babb nor other freshman Cammeron Woodyard played yesterday against Rhode Island. Woodyard has gotten more playing time this year, but Babb gets the first look tonight. Battle scores to put PSU up 15.
Cornley just air-balled a long 2 as the Towson defender seemingly dared him to shoot it.
A foul on Cornley is only the team's second more than 12 minutes into the game.
7:21 first half
Penn State 26, Towson 11
***
Towson misses out of the timeout and the ball goes out of bounds off of the Tigers. And we have the under-12 media timeout.
11:28 first half
Penn State 18, Towson 8
***
Another Battle 3 out of the timeout. He's putting on a clinic in the early stages.
Towson picks up a foul on a missed shot and the ball goes back to PSU with a 7 point lead. Steal by Towson and Justin Hairston slams it home on the other end, over top of D.J. Jackson.
Stanley Pringle hits a nice jumper just past the foul line. Nittany Lions shooting well thus far.
Towson answers with a long jumper by Josh Thornton. Nice play by Penn State to move the ball around. Battle made a move on the wing and found Jones down low, who finished with a powerful slam.
Ed DeChellis is unhappy as Andrew Jones was just called for a foul down low despite seemingly play defense straight up. Calvin Lee can't finish the 3 point play though. Cornley picks up his first points on the other end. 15-8.
PSU is on fire from downtown and continues to move the ball well. Battle made a nice move on the dribble and crossed to Morrissey, who hit from the wing. Towson calls a timeout to regroup.
11:49 first half
Penn State 18, Towson 8
***
Battle hits another 3. Certainly the start he needs after yesterday's rough day from the field.
Media timeout with PSU in control when play resumes.
15:26 first half
Penn State 6, Towson 2
***
Penn State is sporting its road blues today, while Towson is in its home whites with yellow and black trim.
And we've reached the opening tip, with a slight delay because of CN8's live TV coverage. Everyone is starting awkwardly at each other at midcourt as we wait.
The opening tip goes forward to Towson and we are underway. Brian Morris opens the game with a short 3 point attempt and PSU will look for an early lead, but Cornley is blocked from behind.
Penn State setting up in a man-to-man defense, as expected. Jones was beat to the basket but Nwankwo couldn't finish. Jarrel Smith connects on Towson's second chance for the first points of the game.
Towson is opening with a 2-3 zone, and PSU does what it has to do to beat it with a 3-point bucket by Battle to take the lead.
Justin Hairston attempted to slam home a Towson miss tomahawk-style but missed. Towson gets the long rebound but picks up an offensive foul.
16:27 first half
Penn State 3, Towson 2
***
A few minutes ago we were treated to a little slam dunk exhibition by the Penn State basketball team, as it turned its lay-up lines into a bit of a contest. Andrew Jones and D.J. Jackson threw down some nice ones, but the 5-foot-11 Talor Battle upstaged everyone at the end with a slam dunk contest-like high bounce to himself, which he slammed home with one hand.
***
What's up basketball fans, Matt Brown here to take you through the first half of tonight's third place game between the Penn State Nittany Lions and the Towson Tigers in the Philly Hoop Group Classic's Independence Bracket.
Yesterday, Penn State fell in a close one to Rhode Island 77-72 in the first round, while Towson stayed close to Villanova in the first half before being blown away 64-47. The Wildcats and Rams will meet following this contest for the title, but for now we have an important bounce-back game for the Lions to bring you.
A win over Rhode Island would have been big for Penn State in terms of RPI, as it also would have resulted in a matchup with Villanova. Instead, the Lions enter tonight's game as favorites over the Tigers.
After taking a couple of wrong turns in Philly, Mink, Fortuna and I made it to the Palestra with plenty of time to spare and are now courtside... for now, at least. Last night we got stuck in the rafters, but tonight we're hoping to be a bit closer to the action.
Tonight's starting lineups:
Towson
G- 20 Brian Morris
G- 32 Troy Franklin
F- 22 Jarrel Smith
F- 24 Justin Hairston
F- 25 Robert Nwankwo
Penn State
G- 12 Talor Battle
G- 11 Stanley Pringle
F- 15 D.J. Jackson
F- 2 Jamelle Cornley
C- 22 Andrew Jones
We've got about seven minutes until tip-off here, so stick around and follow along with us.
Comments
Happy Thanksgiving to y'all wrestling fans. To everybody cuttin' weight this holiday, I hope you at least got to eat a couple bites of turkey and sweet potatoes.
Intramat.com came out with new individual rankings on Wednesday (I don't know why team rankings didn't come out), so here's a look at how Penn State grapplers fared:
149: Bubba Jenkins - No. 2
Mr. Jenkins stayed put at No. 2 overall, behind his foe Brent Metcalf. Bubba will get a test in a couple weeks, when the Nittany Lions face West Virginia on Dec. 14 at Rec Hall. Mountaineer senior David Jauregui is now ranked No. 5 at the 149 weight class.
157: Dan Vallimont - No. 8
Ouch. Vallimont's stock tumbled quite nicely in a week, falling from his No. 2 spot to No. 8. That's a pretty large amount of spots to drop for an All-American. The junior 157-pounder had a weekend to forget, dropping four of his five matches, most notably to Cornell's Jordan Leen (ranked No. 5) and Edinboro's Gregor Gillespie (ranked No. 2 now). It'll be interesting to see how Dan uses this weekend as motivation to push him through the rest of the season. It may have been a wake-up call for him -- he will have to work hard if he wants to make another run at a national championship in March.
174: Quentin Wright - No. 17
Quentin had a decent week. Didn't watch him wrestle, but it sounded like he competed against some quality opponents. Wright pinned his first collegiate opponent, majored another, and suffered a tough loss to No. 14-ranked Chris Henrich of Virginia. An up-and-down weekend for what must feel like a roller coaster ride for the true freshman. And this is for sure -- he's enjoying every moment of the trip.
184: Phil Bomberger - No. 16
To only drop three spots after dropping four matches on a weekend, Bomberger must consider himself lucky. He lost to the current No. 8, No. 11, No. 14 and No. 15-ranked wrestlers, so I guess No. 16 is a justified rank for him. Yet, I have been very unimpressed by the senior this season. His only victory came in a 5-4 decision to Hofstra's Ben Clymer. 1-4 for a national qualifying senior. If he gets his wrestling up to where it should be, that would be a big confidence booster for the Lions.
Well, that's the recap of all ranked Nittany Lion wrestlers. The Lions are back in action Dec. 7 at the Nittany Lion Open. Penn State has not announced who will be wrestling in it, but there are an incredible amount of teams sending wrestlers down to University Park for the tournament. Should be an exciting and long day of wrestling.
Penn State fans out-number Rhode Island fans big-time here, and the "We Are... Penn State" and "Let's Go Lions" chants are now carrying through the Palestra.
Morrissey called for a hold before the ball gets in, so no time rolls off the clock and Jimmy Baron is at the line for 2. Baron hits the first... and the second. 3 point game, no timeouts for PSU. Here we go folks.
Talor Battle was open on the near wing but Pringle didn't see him and instead shot a deep 3. He missed and the ball is tied up. Possession arrow belongs to Rhode Island and D.J. Jackson picks up his fifth foul on the in-bounds. Penn State will need a miracle now as Baron heads to the line for 2 with 2.6 seconds left.
Baron seals it as he hits both. Battle misses a last-second 3 and that'll do it.
Rhode Island 77, Penn State 72 -- FINAL
That'll do it for us here tonight as we head down to the media room. Join us again tomorrow for the third place game between Penn State and (most likely) Towson at 6:30 p.m. Unless Villanova somehow loses.
***
Jim Baron calls a timeout for URI as the Rams struggled to get the ball in.
Brooks comes in for Cornley. Battle picks up a foul on the in-bounds pass, his third. Marquis Jones a the line for 2. The first one looked good but rims out. Cornley back in with his four fouls. The Palestra getting loud now as Jones puts up the second, and it's all net. Three point lead.
Battle with a nice look to Cornley as Penn State gets the quick two. Timeout Ed DeChellis.
12.6 seconds left
Rhode Island 73, Penn State 72
***
Jackson picks up his fourth on the in-bounds pass and James will go to the line for 2. With a nice roll off the iron he hits the first but misses the second. Rebound PSU. Battle rushes a shot but the ball is off URI. 24 seconds.
Battle drills a 3. What a shot. For a guy who has had a rough time all night, Battle is trying to put the team on his shoulders at the end.
20 seconds to play
Rhode Island 72, Penn State 70
***
Battle hits 1-of-2 and URI takes control under a minute now. The Rams miss but the rebound goes off of Brooks and URI has a fresh 35 to work with.
Penn State will start the fouling game, as Cornley picks up his fourth. Seawright to the line for 2. He hits both. Rhode Island is now 12-of-13 from the line. Important stat? Yes, I think so.
D.J. Jackson slams it home on the other end. Timeout Penn State.
35 seconds left
Rhode Island 71, Penn State 67
***
Seawright sinks two free throws and the lead is back to 6. Free throw shooting has already been a factor in this one and will continue to be important as we head toward the finish.
Delroy James tries to draw a charge but the refs call a block and Pringle heads to the line for 2. He buries the first but misses the second. Brooks hustles for the rebound and the ball goes off URI... after a lengthy discussion by the officials.
Battle drives and draws a foul, two more free throws coming up.
1:06 to go
Rhode Island 69, Penn State 64
***
Battle at the line for a 1-and-1. Free throw shooting has once again been a problem for Penn State this season, but Battle sinks both.
Seawright answers with a nice turnaround jumper down low. Battle beats a defender off the dribble and hits a runner in the paint. The lead is 5 again.
Stevie Mejia cuts through the Penn State defense and draws a foul, while Stanley Pringle takes the brunt of the collision and winds up hitting the ground pretty hard. Mejia knocks down both at the line.
D.J. Jackson with a big follow-up on a Battle miss, and Baron misses for URI on the other end. This is certainly an important possession for Penn State. Cornley fights down low and has a shot just roll out, but he drew the foul and will shoot two.
Cornley's first hits off the front of the iron and is no good. The second is all net. 67-63 URI.
A tough foul goes against Cornley down low, that's No. 10 on the Nittany Lions.
1:32 left
Rhode Island 67, Penn State 63
***
Out of the timeout Penn State finally gets a big shot with Pringle hitting a 3. A Rhode Island turnover on the other end and PSU has a chance to close the gap here.
Pringle drives and dishes but Cornley can't finish. That's the kind of shot Penn State needs to hit if it wants to pull off the comeback in the final five minutes.
Delroy James at the line for URI... he misses the first and connects on the second. The lead is 8.
Danny Morrissey with a nice move to duck around Jimmy Baron and hit an open 3. A nice play by Morrissey to get the open shot.
Jackson picks up a foul and URI is in the bonus, so Marquis Jones will shoot 1-and-1. The front end is good, as is the back end.
Battle draws a foul away from the ball and will head to the line, as URI has also hit seven fouls. Media timeout.
3:59 left to go
Rhode Island 63, Penn State 56
***
Rhode Island's defense continues to be suffocating as Battle and Pringle have had to work for every little chance they can get. Only 11 combined points for them, and Battle just missed a 3. Meanwhile, Rhode Island's Jimmy Baron hits a 3 and now has 18 for the game.
Another missed 3 by Battle, Rhode Island scores on a fast break. All of a sudden the lead is 10 and Ed DeChellis wisely uses a timeout.
5:50 left to play
Rhode Island 60, Penn State 50
***
Seven-footer Will Martell hits a jumper from the corner and all of a sudden the Rhode Island lead is 7.
Penn State is really struggling from long range today as Pringle just missed. I believe PSU is now 4-of-15 from 3. Quite a change from the rest of the season.
Cornley finally ends the Penn State drought but again, URI has an answer with a Lamonte Ulmer bucket.
7:20 left to play
Rhode Island 55, Penn State 50
***
A questionable call on the in-bounds play out of the timeout gives Rhode Island the ball back, drawing the ire of a Penn State fan section right behind the official.
I don't have official stats in front of me, but this sure looks like the most minutes we've seen Jeff Brooks play in this young season.
Morrissey just missed an open chance at tying the game but missed from 3, while Cothran made him pay by hitting a 3 on the other end. Instead of a tie game, the Rams are up 5.
10:01 left
Rhode Island 51, Penn State 46
***
Another offensive board for PSU as Brooks grabs a missed 3, but Cornley missed PSU's second effort.
Here we go to another timeout.
11:47 left to play
Rhode Island 49, Penn State 46
***
Battle hits 1-of-2 free throws and PSU gets a rebound on the other end. Battle comes up empty from beyond the arc.
Jeff Brooks tried to make a move down low but had the ball but got swatted away by Kahiem Seawright. But then he makes up for it by nailing a 3 to get the Lions within one.
Keith Cothran hits a shot and Rhode Island takes a timeout.
12:52 left to play
Rhode Island 49, Penn State 46
***
Cornley continues to fight hard down low. He just hit a terrific turn around jumper from just outside the paint.
Penn State is doing a nice job of hustling for the offensive rebounds. Battle just beat a defender to an offensive board, leading to a Danny Morrissey bucked. Again, Rhode Island follows with a 3.
14:27 left
Rhode Island 47, Penn State 42
***
Cornley scores to get into double figures with 10, but Jimmy Baron with another answer for the Rams from 3.
15:51 left
Rhode Island 43, Penn State 38
***
What's up everyone, Matt Brown here to take you through the second half as the crowd starts to build with Villanova fans for the 8:30 contest between 'Nova and Towson.
Andrew Jones can't catch a break on defense as he just picked up his third foul already.
D.J. Jackson misses a three and URI follows with a made three. Jones tallies a three-point play to cut the lead back to two. And Keith Cothran answers right back for the Rams.
Rhode Island is sticking with its man-to-man defense, and the Rams are certainly the first opponent of PSU this year to match up with the Nittany Lions athletically.
Cornley hits a deep two-pointer but again the Rams answer, this time with Kahiem Seawright's long two.
16:38 left to play
Rhode Island 40, PSU 36
***
Some questionable clock management by Battle at the end of the half. Unaware he had less than six seconds left, Battle began walking the ball up court. Then, passed the ball off to Morrissey as the game clock was winding down, who pumped faked as time expired.
Ladies and gentlemen, a pump fake doesn't gives you zero points every time.
Halftime
Rhode Island 33, PSU 31
I'm a little short on stats, so I'll just give you my two cents for the first half before handing it over to Matt Brown.
In what is probably its stiffest test to date, Penn State is showing it has the potential to be a solid basketball team. A win tonight likely pits the Lions against nationally-ranked Villanova tomorrow night here at the Palestra, and that will pay huge dividends to the Lions' postseason blessings.
The Lions aren't getting out muscles, they aren't getting blown by on the perimeter, despite switching to a 2-3 zone. In fact, if they tighten the screws up top on some of these offensive fouls, and convert some easy points in the paint, the Lions would probably be in the locker room with a lead.
Things to look out for in the second half include what defense the Lions come out with and whether or not they continue to look to get the ball in the paint.
***
Penn State shows a 2-3 zone. Battle hits a three after the Lions get a stop to cut within two.
Two straight stops with the 2-3 zone. Let's see if Baron and the Rams can shoot Eddie D out of the zone.
This writer senses a momentum swing just before the half. Cornley tied up the game, then drew a charge.
47.2 left 1st half
PSU 31, Rhode Island 31
***
Andrew Jones can't stay away from picking up offensive fouls, this time drawing the whistle with his flailing elbows.
2:36 left 1st half
Rhode Island 31, PSU 26
Brilliant pass by Brooks to Jackson for a lay-in. The Lions are hanging around but just can't seem to put any kind of a run together. Baron missed his last two 3-point attempts, and Penn State continues to miss a lot of easy shots around the basket.
Brooks puts in a Battle miss just inside the left elbow.
3:01 left 1st half
Rhode Island 31, PSU 26
***
A blatant walk out of Delroy James is about all that happens this side of the timeout.
7:51 left 1st half
Rhode Island 26, PSU 18
There is a Nittany Lions here at the Palestra. I don't have the greatest eyes in the world, but it looks more like Smokey the Bear. Pringle drills a 2-pt. jumper.
Jim Baron drills another three ball. I'm just gonna start callin' him the Red Baron.
5:47 left 1st half
Rhode Island 29, PSU 22
***
Brooks just shook the ref's hand after pleading his case the ball did not go out of bounds off of him. The call stands, Rams basketball
10:31 left 1st half
Rhode Island 17, PSU 15
Rhode Island has shown full court pressure after made buckets. The Lions appear to be able to break it with ease, though. Brooks misfires from long range.
Good defense by Danny Morrissey at one end, and gets rewarded with an open look at three at the other end. Battle's getting suffocated every time he brings the ball up the floor.
A bad pass leads to a breakaway dunk for the Rams. Another Lions' turnover and three points later Jimmy Baron sinks a bomb from downtown.
Penn State coach Ed DeChellis takes a timeout.
8:15 left 1st half
Rhode Island 26, PSU 18
***
More Rams are cradling the basketball again. Pringle feeds Cornley on the low block who drops a baby hook.
Pringle drives, dishes to Cornley, but Jamelle misses the bunny.
11:05 left 1st half
PSU 15, Rhode Island 17
***
Jeff Brooks makes his first appearance in tonight's game. Double dribbles, palming, and traveling have been the story on the game's last three possessions.
Since we're in the Palestra, maybe one of you can explain to me why Drexel is not included in the Big Five when geographically, it's right next door.
***
Battle with a gorgeous feed underneath to the trailer man Jones for a jam. Battle just got stepped on the face after falling to the ground. He drills a three later that possession. The Rams quickly strike on the other end to knot up the score at 11. Flow is very fast in the early stages.
15:16 left 1st half
PSU 11, Rhode Island 11
***
Penn State coming out wearing its home white uni's. Rhode Island is lookin' fly in powdered blue.
Jackson attacks the hoop hard on a fast break, getting fouled to earn two shots from the line. Foul shooting was an issue for the Lions down the stretch against Penn Tuesday night. Jackson hits both, though.
18:33 left 1st half
PSU 4, Rhode Island 2
***
OK. I'm going to make a prediction. This will be the lowest attended game for Penn State this season. There might be less than a grand, and we're a handful of minutes from starting.
Aight, here are the starting lineups:
Penn State
12 G Talor Battle So.
11 G Stanley Pringle Sr.
15 F D.J. Jackson So.
22 C Andrew Jones So.
2 F Jamelle Cornley Sr.
Rhode Island
5 G Marquis Jones So.
20 G Jimmy Baron Sr.
21 F Delroy James Jr.
22 G Keith Cothran Jr.
33 F Kahiem Seawright Sr.
***
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. --- Hey y'all Penn State basketball fans, it's Mink bringing you live coverage of the Nittany Lions clash with Rhode Island tonight from the Palestra. The Nits return to action in the Philly Hoop Group Classic against the Rams after shutting down Penn Tuesday night in this building.
My colleagues and I made the road trip down to the City of Brotherly Love to give all loyal to the Blue and White a little play-by-play in case none of ya get CN8. I made my way from my spot on Pennsylvania St. down the Turnpike to the Quakertown exit before jumping ship into Matt Brown's whip. While all this was going down, Fortuna boarded a reckless bus ride from his home in the Big Apple. Screaming babies, shady characters, the whole nine yards was on the bus, he tells me.
Brown and I, being extra cautious on this day called Black Friday, decided to leave at 3, so we roll into Philly a good hour before Fortuna's 4:30 bus arrives in center city Philadelphia.
Killing time, we stopped to grab a bite to eat and then headed back into the city to pick up Fortuna.
For those who have never been to the Palestra, it's definitely worth it to see a basketball game here. It has a Rec Hall-like feel to it, which means this place could end up giving me a splitting headache when it's all said and done. All in all, a lot of history in this gymnasium. Wilt, Cuttino, Kobe, Jameer, Sheed all have memories of this place and, the list goes on and on.
We got about a baker's dozen minutes left 'til tip-off. Hang tight.
Comments
The Lady Lions rallied back from a 13-poind second-half deficit to take the lead late in the game, but couldn't hold on, losing 61-57.
I'll check back in a few with stats, and check the Collegian Web site for a Web update later.
Tough loss, but playing the No. 5 team in the nation to the final minute is definitely something to build upon for a young team.
***
After falling behind early, the Lady Lions went on an 11-0 run to take a three point lead over the heavily-favored Aggies, before falling to an eventual 31-21 halftime deficit.
Grant is once again leading the Lady Lions with 10 points, and senior point guard Brianne O'Rourke has chipped in five points and three assists.
The Aggies are led by Takia Starks and Danielle Gant who have nine and eight points, respectively.
Although the Lady Lions are losing, they are clearly putting up more of a fight than they did in Monday's loss -- at least that is what watching it on gametracker would imply. Instead of folding after a slow start, they fought back, led by Grant, and despite being behind, wouldn't let the Aggies put them away before halftime. Here are the first half stats:
Texas A&M: 13-39 (33.6), 3-point: (4-12), FT (1-2), Rebounds (27), Bench Points (14) e
Penn State: 9-23 (39.5 %), 3-point (0-3), FT (3-10), Rebounds (17), Bench Points (1)
***
Following an 80-59 loss to intrastate rival, Pitt, the Lady Lions hope a trip to Malibu, Calif. for the Timeout 4 HIV/AIDs tournament, will help them forget.
After an impressive first week, in which the Lady Lions went 3-0, winning each game by an average of 28 points, they fell back down to earth against a Pitt squad that held the Lady lions to just 18 percent shooting in the first half.
Today they face the Texas A&M Aggies, who knocked of Pitt in their first game of the season. Danielle Gant, the team's leading scorer and rebounder, has led the Aggies to a 4-0 start and a top-ten ranking in both polls, including a No. 5 ranking in the ESPN/USA today coaches poll.
The Lady Lions look to recover from an awful performance from everyone not named Tyra Grant, but against a team that prides itself on its inside presence, it may be difficult. Nonetheless, coach Coquese Washington is ready to put Monday's blowout-loss behind her with a quality performance in California.
Following the PSU game, Pepperdine will face Coppin State in the second game of today's doubleheader.
Depending on the results PSU will face one of the two teams in tomorrows game at either 4 or 6:30.
I'll check back in at half time with an update of the first half stats.
Comments
Penn State continued its hot start from beyond the three-point line in Tuesday night's win over Penn, and the Nittany Lions have now hit 49-of-103 threes, or 47.6%, this season. Talor Battle and Stanley Pringle continue to roll, as they combined to sink eight threes against the Quakers.
So I figured now would be a good time to dig out an old clip of former Kentucky great Tayshaun Prince knocking down five consecutive threes in a game against North Carolina a few years back. A friend of mine showed the video to me a couple of years ago and recently reminded me of it.
Honestly it's worth watching just for the Bill Raftery commentary.
Anyway, enjoy (skip the first minute to get to the actual basketball):
It looks like the football team isn't the only one collecting honors in Happy Valley today.
Point guard Talor Battle was named the Big Ten's Player of the Week. The sophomore co-captain led the Nittany Lions to three wins last week, averaging 20.3 points per game on 66 percent shooting from the field and 59 percent from three. He also averaged 4.7 rebounds and 5 assists per game while turning the ball over just three times the entire week.
Battle will lead Penn State into Penn tomorrow night for the Lions' first road test of the season. The 1-2 Quakers are coming off a 21-point thrashing of Monmouth on Saturday. Tip-off is at 7:30.
Penn State can take very small solace in the fact it outscored the Panthers 41-37 in the second half. But the offensive outburst was too little, too late to seriously challenge Pitt.
The Panthers went up by as much as 34 in the game, as four players scored in double-figures, led by Zellous' game-high 24.
Grant rebounded slightly in the second half, scoring 14 points in the latter half, including a couple of 3-pointers.
O'Rourke's night, on the other hand, just got worse. She was 0-for-9 from the field, with all six points coming at the foul line. She played 38 of 40 minutes.
Penn State did hit 4-for-6 on 3s in the second half but committed nine turnovers, led by O'Rourke's 6.
This has to be a humbling loss for the Lady Lions. They had been playing so well on defense in the first three games of the season, so giving up 80 points is a step back.
Perhaps they ran into a fired up rival who wanted to erase recent struggles against the Lady Lions, or maybe it was just a culmination of shaky play in the first half like against Prairie View A&M.
Whatever the case, it's clear Penn State still has a long way to go to compete with top-25 caliber teams (at least right now...), and the schedule doesn't get any easier. The Lady Lions head to Malibu, Calif. to play No. 8 Texas A&M. The Aggies have yet to surrender more than 56 points this season, so the Lady Lions have to be crisper -- especially on offense -- if it wants to stay competitive for more than the first few minutes.
But the basketball season is a long one. And we may learn more about Penn State in terms of how it responds against Texas A&M than just by how it did Monday night against rival Pitt.
Following the game on GameTracker is frustrating, but it probably pales in comparison to the frustration coach Coquese Washington has right now watching her team execute.
Penn State's offense has yet to find a rhythm and nothing seems to be working.
The Lady Lions have yet to hit a 3, while the Panthers have hit six, including one with eight seconds left by Shavonte Zellous.
Penn State fell behind early, 11-2, but went on a small 4-0 run that made it look like the game could be competitive.
But then a 4:32 stretch arrived when Penn State went scoreless. Overlapped during that time was a 5:34 span without a field goal.
O'Rourke is especially having a rough night. She's 0-for-6 from the field, including 0-3 on 3s and has five turnovers. It's definitely not the final homecoming she was planning on.
Junior Tyra Grant is 2-for-9 from the floor. She earlier talked about the defense being the "bread and butter" in a game earlier this year, but the defense has been just as poor as the offense so far.
The Panthers are hitting above 50 percent and are shooting 6-for-12 from long range. They've been up at least 16 points since Taneisha Harrison's 3-pointer with 9:57 left in the first half.
First Half Stats:
Field Goals: PSU-6-32 (18.8%); Pitt-15-29 (51.7%)
3s: PSU-0-7 (0%); Pitt-6-12 (50%)
Free Throws: PSU-6-12 (50%); Pitt-7-9 (77.8%)
Rebounds (O/D): PSU-21 (8/13); Pitt-23 (2/21)
Turnovers: PSU-9; Pitt-7
Leading Scorers:
Penn State: Grant, 6
Pitt: Zellous,10
Penn State-Pitt Pregame
Hello, all you basketball fans.
I hope everyone is enjoying their Thanksgiving Break and readying themselves for some mashed potatoes and gravy in a few days. I know I am.
For tonight, it's Wayne bringing you all updates for the Lady Lions (3-0) game at Pitt. Not only is this obviously a rivalry game, but Penn State has a chance to beat a Top 25 caliber team in the Panthers.
Pitt (1-1) has a loss, but it was by only six points to a Top 10 team in Texas A&M. The Panthers has reached the NCAA tournament the last two years, including the Sweet 16 last season, when they went 24-11 last season.
Interestingly, despite Pitt's recent success and Penn State's struggles the Lady Lions have actually won four of the last five meetings against the Panthers. Last season, Penn State upset No. 20 Pitt, 80-74, last season.
Tonight's match up could go a long way in determining how far Penn State has come since last season. A victory may give the Lady Lions some votes when the new ESPN/USA Today poll is released tomorrow and could help their at-large resume. This is also senior Brianne O'Rourke's last game in her hometown.
Comments
North Carolina remained at the top of the polls again this week, this time as the unanimous No. 1.
Xavier made its debut in the Top 25 at No. 16 after its miraculous buzzer-beating win over Virginia Tech in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off and its upset in the tournament's championship game over defending national runner-up Memphis, which fell to No. 18.
USC dropped out of the rankings after dropping a pair of games. It's worth noting that a pair of Big Ten teams, Michigan and Illinois, received votes in the poll, as well.
Rank-Team-(First place votes)- Record-Total votes-Previous rank
1. North Carolina (72) 3-0 1,800 1
2. Connecticut 4-0 1,694 2
3. Louisville 2-0 1,646 3
4. Pittsburgh 4-0 1,423 6
5. Michigan St. 2-0 1,402 5
6. Texas 2-0 1,355 7
7. Duke 6-0 1,330 10
8. Notre Dame 2-0 1,291 8
9. Gonzaga 2-0 1,222 9
10. Purdue 4-0 1,161 11
11. Oklahoma 4-0 1,094 12
12. Tennessee 3-0 1,005 14
13. UCLA 3-1 916 4
14. Arizona St. 3-0 767 15
15. Marquette 3-0 735 15
16. Xavier 5-0 600 --
17. Florida 3-0 535 18
18. Memphis 4-1 500 13
19. Wake Forest 2-0 414 20
20. Villanova 3-0 356 23
21. Georgetown 2-0 349 22
22. Kansas 2-0 272 24
22. Miami 2-1 272 17
24. Davidson 3-1 238 21
25. Wisconsin 4-0 214 25
Others receiving votes: Baylor 170, Syracuse 115, Saint Mary's, Calif. 111, UNLV 107, Ohio St. 52, Clemson 49, Michigan 42, LSU 25, Texas A&M 25, Siena 18, Southern Cal 18, BYU 16, Washington St. 13, UAB 12, West Virginia 10, Creighton 6, Missouri 6, Rhode Island 5, Georgia Tech 2, Illinois 2, Seton Hall 2, Mercer 1, Oklahoma St. 1, VMI 1.
Last Sunday, I went through the first week's results for all of Penn State's 2008-09 opponents, so I'll keep up the tradition this week. The Nittany Lions defeated three teams to move their record to 4-0, with wins over NJIT on Monday, Hartford on Thursday and New Hampshire today.
Here is how all of the opponents fared in the last seven days:
Non-Conference Opponents
-William & Mary W 74-58 vs. Norfolk State, L 102-99 vs. Navy
-NJIT L 74-47 at Penn State
-Hartford L 99-56 at UConn, L 89-64 at Penn State, W 91-82 vs. St. Francis (NY)
-New Hampshire L 80-69 vs. Harvard, L 70-50 at Penn State
-Penn L 66-64 at Drexel, W 83-62 vs. Monmouth
-Rhode Island W 85-62 at Monmouth, W 92-86 vs. Virginia Commonwealth
-Georgia Tech W 82-76 at Mercer
-Temple W 71-55 at Lafayette
-Army L 66-64 at Quinnipiac, L 78-68 at Long Island, L 55-43 vs. Princeton
-Mount St. Mary's L 62-57 at Virginia Tech
-Lafayette W 80-71 vs. Stony Brook, L 71-55 vs. Temple, W 84-77 vs. Rider
-Sacred Heart L 70-54 at Fairfield, L 111-87 at Providence
Around the Big Ten
-Northwestern W 66-48 vs. Texas A&M Corpus Christi, W 73-64 at Brown
-Wisconsin W 88-58 vs. SIU Edwardsville, W 60-58 vs. Iona, W 64-49 vs. San Diego
-Purdue W 87-58 vs. Eastern Michigan, W 78-46 vs. Loyola (IL), W 66-46 vs. Coppin State
-Minnesota W 72-71 at Colorado State
-Michigan State W 70-59 at IPFW
-Indiana W 60-57 vs. IUPUI
-Michigan W 55-52 vs. UCLA, L 71-56 vs. Duke
-Iowa W 73-67 vs. Texas-San Antonio, W 70-48 at The Citadel, W 66-57 vs. Oakland
-Illinois W 69-63 at Vanderbilt, W 78-64 vs. Jackson State
-Ohio State W 70-42 vs. Delaware State
Non-Conference Opponents' Record: 16-22
Big Ten Opponents' Record: 31-1
Total Opponents' Record: 47-23
Obviously, the Big Ten is carrying Penn State's strength of schedule right now. Temple, Georgia Tech and Rhode Island appear to be the only respectable non-conference opponents, along with Villanova if the Lions and Wildcats happen to meet in the Philly Hoop Group Classic championship Saturday night.
Michigan gave the Big Ten its first loss of the season but was still the most impressive opponent this week. At the 2K Sports Classic Benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer in New York, the Wolverines shocked UCLA with a big second half before being toppled by No. 5 Duke the next day. But the win over the Bruins is certainly a big win for John Beilein's program, as well as the Big Ten.
Meanwhile, Wisconsin continues to struggle against inferior opponents. After having problems with Long Beach State last week, the Badgers needed overtime to beat Iona -- the same Gaels program that won just two games two years ago -- in the Paradise Jam in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Outside of the Big Ten, the most noteworthy performance probably has to go to Rhode Island. The Rams nearly beat Duke last week, and this week, they got a big win over a strong Virginia Commonwealth team. On the other side of things, Georgia Tech nearly lost to Mercer but pulled out a win in overtime. It will be interesting to see what Penn State does in Atlanta just a week and a half from now in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge.
The Penn State wraaslers' came out strong today and picked up three victories in the Sprawl and Brawl Dual Meets in Binghamton, N.Y.
The No. 14-ranked Nittany Lions defeated No. 24 Virginia, No. 15 Edinboro and Binghamton on the day to improve their record to 3-2 on the season.
Let's break down how each wrestler did today:
125: Brad Pataky - 3-0
Pataky went 3-0 on the day, including two technical falls over Edinboro's Kyle Fluke and Binghamton's Tyler Malmberg, 18-3 and 16-0, respectively. The redshirt sophomore also beat Virginia's Ross Gitomer by a 4-2 decision.
After Pataky fell to Hofstra's Steve Bonanno, Pataky has defeated his last four opponents in impressive fashion. Don't be surprised to see Pataky reappear in the individual rankings this week.
133: Phil Haas - 3-0
The redshirt senior grappler had a great day on the mat. He registered victories three different ways: a pin of Virginia's Matt Bonson, a technical fall against Binghamton's Robert Slavin and a 5-4 decision over Edinboro's No. 15-ranked Rickey Deubel.
Haas's pin gave the Lions six points in the dual, so it was a crucial factor in the three point victory of Virginia. An upset over Deubel will definitely garner the grappler national attention for his performance.
141: Frank Molinaro - 2-0, Jake Strayer - 0-1
Strayer saw his first action of the season against Virginia's Nick Nelson, who defeated Strayer 4-2. It is pretty crazy that a guy who was ranked No. 3 in the country in the preseason rankings isn't a regular in the Penn State lineup, but it's all part of the plan. I'd say give it until January and we'll see Strayer, one of the team captains, share time with Haas at 133. Sunderland, I would imagine, wants Molinaro to get a lot of experience this year, but at the same time, you can't waste the talent of a guy like Jake Strayer.
Molinaro, the redshirt freshman, went undefeated on the day, including a pin of Binghamton's Anwar Goeres. He also majored Joel Webster of Edinboro. I'd be surprised if Molinaro doesn't come out and make a run at the 141-pound title at the Nittany Lion Open on Dec. 7.
149: Bubba Jenkins - 3-0
Bubba J remained undefeated on the season by pinning Edinboro's No. 17-ranked wrestler Torsten Gillespie, majoring Virginia's Kellon Balum and beating Matt Kaylor of Binghamton by decision.
I haven't gotten a chance to talk to him yet, but you have to suspect Jenkins is disappointed he didn't go to the All-Star Match in Columbus, OH to wrestle No. 1 Brent Metcalf. Three victories will make it a little easier, though.
157: Dan Vallimont - 1-2
The No. 2-ranked Vallimont had a tough weekend as a whole, as he also lost to Cornell's Jordan Leen on Friday. Vallimont fell to Virginia's Jedd Moore, 9-4; was majored by Edinboro's top wrestler, Gregor Gillespie, 8-0; but defeated Binghamton's Nate Patterson, 7-6, to avoid going winless on the weekend.
Vallimont will likely fall in this week's rankings...you can't lose three times and not expect to drop. A couple wrestling fans on The Wrestling Talk Forums suggested he looked tired today in Binghamton, which I wouldn't doubt because he has faced some really tough competition to start the season.
I bet Dan wishes he was still going to the All-Star match, however, because he would have gotten a chance at a rematch against Cornell's Jordan Leen. He faced Gillespie, another former champ at 157, so Vallimont did get experience playing against two of the best wrestlers in the country. In March, this could pay off for Vallimont.
165: Mark Friend - 2-1
Friend had three very strong matches in Binghamton. His only loss came in a close 8-5 bout with Edinboro's No. 6-ranked Jarrod King. Friend defeated Mike Sewell of Virginia, 4-0, and majored Binghamton's Brett Nelson.
The senior wrestler was also strong in a losing effort to Cornell's top-ranked 165-pounder. If Friend keeps up his effort, it would go a long way in some of Penn State's dual meets, at a weight it may not have expected to win many matches at in the beginning of the season.
174: Quentin Wright - 2-1
No. 16-ranked Quentin Wright recorded his first collegiate pin against Edinboro's Paul Paddock on Sunday. Wright has been impressive since replacing David Erwin in the lineup; he's gone 3-2 thus far this season.
Wright fell to No. 14 Chris Henrich of Virginia, and majored Binghamton's Brett Nelson, 13-5.
184: Phil Bomberger - 0-3
Not a weekend to remember for Bomberger. Even though he faced four ranked opponents, he failed to beat any of them. The senior was ranked No. 13 coming into Cornell's match, but lost 6-2 to No. 18 Chris Kerber at Cornell, and dropped his three matches Sunday.
Bomberger fell to Virginia's No. 8-ranked Rocco Caponi, Edinboro's No. 14-ranked Chris Honeycutt and Binghamton's No. 17-ranked Josh Patterson.
197: Clay Steadman - 0-3
Steadman is in a tough position as a result of Andrew Haile's injury. It appears as if Haile will be out for a majority of the season, so Steadman will likely be the starter for most of the season. J.R. Brown and Jack Decker will have something to say about that, however.
Heavyweight: Cameron Wade - 2-1
Wade clinched the Lions' opening victory against Virginia. Coming into the heavyweight bout, the dual meet score was 15-14 PSU, so obviously the winner of this match determined the winner of the bout. Wade came out on top, beating Jack Danilkowitcz, 2-0.
The redshirt freshman also pinned Binghamton's Art Garvey. Including the Michigan State Open, Wade now has three pins on the season, tops on the team. The team is high on Wade and confident in his abilities.
Check out the blog throughout the week for any updates we get on the team. Have a great week and all y'all students -- enjoy a week off and catch up on some sleep. I know I will.
The second full week of action provided some upsets and a little separation between some teams from the rest of the pack.
First, around the nation...
Two-time defending national champion Tennessee was stunned at home by No. 16 Virginia, 83-82. It is only the 19th loss at home by the Lady Vols in Thompson Boling-Arena. Virginia rallied from an 8-point halftime deficit, with Monica Wright totaling 35 points to lead the Cavaliers in what may have been the most impressive individual performance of the week.
But the Cavaliers' success was short lived. Four days later, they lost to No. 25 Old Dominion.
Upsets this weekend:
No. 7 Cal topped No. 3 Rutgers, 66-52
Hartford stunned No. 6 Duke, 53-51
No. 25 Old Dominion beat No. 16 Virginia, 78-70
Detroit beat ESPN/USA Today Poll's No. 23 Georgia, 70-66
The one team that was really hurt by this weekend was Rutgers. Before this weekend, this looked like one of C. Vivian Stringer's best teams, as it beat its first two opponents by a combined 75 points. The defense was at its best, but the offense was what really stood out. Always known for their strong defense, the Scarlet Knights seemed to have an offense that could help share the load. But after averaging less than 50 points in two losses to Pac 10 powers this weekend, it seems Rutgers' mix of veterans and a highly touted freshmen class may take more time to adjust.
Out in the Midwest, a lot of attention has been placed on the Oklahoma men's team and sophomore center Blake Griffin. He's averaging 26 points and 19.8 rebounds a game this season for the unbeaten Sooners.
But on the same campus, senior post player Courtney Paris has been just as dominant. Although Paris' Sooners lost to North Carolina on Sunday, Paris is averaging 15.8 points and 14.8 rebounds. As a junior last year, Paris posted a double-double in all 31 games. She did the same against the No. 3 Tar Heels in a losing effort.
For the Big Ten, the conference went 18-9 since Monday.
Michigan State, Penn State and No. 21 Purdue are the last unbeaten teams in the conference, but Michigan probably had the most interesting week.
After being surprised by Akron, the Wolverines fought valiantly against No. 12 Texas A&M before finally getting the big victory it was looking for with the upset of Vanderbilt on Sunday. It was Michigan's first win against a ranked team since Feb. 2004.
Ohio State's loss to Auburn was a minor blow, but it wasn't because of Jantel Lavender. She posted 20 points and 12 rebounds in the overtimes loss. But Ohio State can get back on track against giantkiller Hartford this week.
As for the Lady Lions, they have a make-or-break week coming up.
First up is rival Pitt on Monday. At 1-1, Pitt is a top 25 caliber team and will be a good measuring stick for Penn State. The Lady Lions won last year's contest, and this will be senior Brianne O'Rourke's last game in her hometown. It will be interesting to see how Penn State handles playing on the road for the first time this season.
After that comes the match up against No. 12 Texas A&M on Friday in the Timeout 4 HIV/AIDS Tournament in Malibu, Calif. Penn State will then play either Coppin State or Pepperdine the next day. The Lady Lions have never faced any of the three teams.
Finally, Hoopgurlz.com recently released its 2009 recruiting rankings. Penn State comes in at No. 13 and Illinois was the highest ranked Big Ten team, putting together the No. 3 class. Baylor came in at No. 1.
Babb gets back on the floor here in the closing minutes. Let's see what the freshman can do here at the end.
Brooks gets in the scoring column with a nice turnaround lay-in. And with that, walk-ons Will Leiner and Steve Kirkpatrick get in the action.
The third walk-on, Adam Highberger, makes his way in with just under two to go, making it a pair of freshmen and three walk-ons on the floor.
Babb bricks a three. In practices, it seems all he does is work on his shooting. He has a really nice touch and appears capable of doing damage if he gets hot. Unfortunately for him, that has yet to be seen on the floor this season. Luckily, the frosh has plenty of time to make a name for himself.
Nittany Nation sings "Hail to the Lion" as the clock winds down. Penn State goes to 4-0 on the year with the 70-50 win today.
UNH PSU
Field goals 18-55 32.7% 25-51 49.0%
3-point FGs 7-25 28.0% 4-13 30.8%
Free throws 7-10 70.0% 16-25 64.0%
Reb (O-D) 30 (8-22) 38 (7-31)
Turnovers 12 8
The Lions will play their first road game of season on Tuesday, when they take on the Quakers of Penn.
The team will be in Philly again next weekend when they take on Rhode Island -- easily its toughest opponent to date -- at the Palestra on Friday. The winner gets the Villanova/Towson winner the next night. My colleagues and I, being the dedicated individuals we are, will be making the trip to Philly after Thanksgiving and, of course, will be live blogging all of the action from the historic Palestra. Be sure to check in.
That's all from here. Have a good holiday break fellas.
-Fortuna
***
Jackson with the short jumper in the paint to extend the lead to 21.
Cornley follows with a similar shot the next time down, and Penn State finds itself comfortably ahead, 65-42, as UNH calls a 30 sec timeout.
Rony Tchatchoua (thank God for spell check) misses a wide-open lay-in down low, a microcosm of the second half for the Wildcats.
Freshman Cammeron Woodyward checks in to relieve Battle, whose 24 point, 8-rebound night earn him a well-deserved applause from the remaining fans.
Another break in play, and the handful of Nittany Nation fans left are recognized for staying during break to support the Lions. They deserve it, this game's been brutal, Battle aside.
3:50 to go,
PSU 67, UNH 46
***
Pringle resurfaces after his career-night on Thursday, hitting a three with a hand in his face to put the Lions up 18.
And a carry called on Gilchrese, the second such violation of the game for the Wildcats. These zebras would never survive an NBA game with such calls.
Battle hits his third triple of the game to put the Lions up 19. My colleagues and I really can't wait to see what he does come Big Ten season. He's 9-11 from the field so far today with 24 points and 7 rebounds.
Jackson misses a jumper, and Morrissey tips the ball up, then dives into the sidelines a la Dennis Rodman to knock it off a UNH defender out of bounds and maintain possession. The fans and bench get to their feet in appreciation of the senior captain's hustle.
Timeout on the floor.
7:07 to go,
PSU 61, UNH 42
***
Sure enough, Jackson nails the free throw.
Next trip down for the Lions, and Dane DiLiegro picks up his third foul, the team's fifth in less than six minutes so far this ha..
...andddd Gilchrese picks up his third, the team's fifth.
Battle lets his frustrations at the foul line out with a big "AHHHHH!" after missing the first. He regroups and hits the second.
A few minutes later, and Battle hits a three while falling into the lap of inactive center Andrew Ott on the bench, which draws "TA-LOR BAT-TLE!" chants from the fans of Nittany Nation. Both of them.
Cornley hits two free throws after being fouled by Radar Onguetou, who picks up his third of the game. That makes five Wildcats with three fouls and one, Abby Kabba, with four.
Tyrece Gibbs hits a three out of the 30-second timeout to cut the Penn State lead to 15.
Another timeout on the floor, and the cheerleaders come out with the free Papa John's pizza, which makes this place as loud as it's been all game. Heading home for New York in a few hours, I can definitely wait for some REAL dough.
11:57 to go,
PSU 53, UNH 38
***
Eric Gilchrese knocks down the trey out of the timeout to cut the Penn State lead to 9.
Cornley draws the foul on the other end, and bricks the first free throw before hitting the next. Great game for the senior captain thus far, but he's gotta do something about that 3-7 mark from the charity stripe.
Gilchrese nails another trifecta to cut the lead to seven, but Battle catches the Wildcats sleeping on the other end and makes them pay with a drive to the bucket.
Next play down, and Jackson draws the foul inside and finishes the baby jumper off the the glass. Chance for a three-point play out of the timeout.
But not before "Hey Baby" accompanies the Kiss Cam...
15:55 left,
PSU 46, UNH 35
***
Hey folks, Matt Fortuna here to take you the rest of the way.
Stanley Pringle opens the half with a pretty drive to the bucket, hitting the tough lay-in and the ensuing free throw for the traditional three-point play to extend Penn State's lead to double-digits.
On the next possession Jamelle Cornley finds D.J. Jackson at the elbow for the jimmy to put the Lions up 41-29.
UNH wants to talk it over, and Zombie Nation blares over the loudspeakers. The crowd is just a tadddd less pumped for it than they were during yesterday's football game. Just a bit.
18:57 to go,
PSU 41, UNH 29
***
Before I send it over to Fortuna for the second half, here are some halftime stats:
Score: PSU 36, UNH 29
Field Goals: PSU 13-27, UNH 12-25
3-pointers: UNH 4-10, PSU 1-7
Free throws: PSU 9-15, UNH 1-2
Rebounds: PSU 17, UNH 14
Turnovers: PSU 4, UNH 10
Leading scorers:
PSU: Talor Battle 15, Jamelle Cornley 12
UNH: Tyrece Gibbs 11, Eric Gilchrese 5
Leading rebounders:
PSU: Talor Battle 5
UNH: Abby Kabba 4
With that, this is Matt Brown signing off. Matt Fortuna will take over shortly and take you through the second half.
***
Chris Babb at the line out of the timeout, looking for his second and third career points. He comes up empty on the first but the second finds all net to tie the game at 27.
Talor Battle has been much more aggressive in the latter stages of the first half, as he just drove to the basket again and kicked it out. Brooks is now at the line shooting 2 to give PSU a lead and connects on both. 29-27 PSU.
What a play by Cornley as he stole the ball and immediately tossed a high pass to Battle down the floor. Battle converted the lay-up to put PSU up 31-27. Conley answers for the Wildcats.
PSU is really struggling for long range as Morrissey just missed a 3. PSU is now 1-7 from beyond the arc.
Conley just passed the ball straight to Battle, who took the ball to the rim, hit a lay-up and drew a foul. Battle knocks down the free throw and the Lions have their largest lead at 5.
Battle with a terrific fade-away jumper as the shot clock was winding down. It hit off the glass and went in for two. 36-29, the shot clocks are off and UNH turns the ball over. That'll do it for the first half.
HALFTIME
PSU 36, UNH 29
***
I remember once watching ESPN's "Around the Horn" and hearing Woody Paige think that former Phillies outfielder Bobby Abreu pronounced his last name "A-brew." Maybe he was thinking about five years in advance about New Hampshire basketball, as Alvin Abreu apparently prounounces his name "A-Brew."
***
UNH misses out of the timeout with nice defense by Cornley down low. And Cornley hits a mid-range jumper for two to give Penn State its first lead in 10 minutes.
Abby Kaba gives the lead back to UNH but Battle just hit a 3 in response and the Lions are up 24-22. Now Tyrece Gibbs has tied it up at 24.
With the shot clock winding down, Battle made a nice move down the lane and gave a beautiful feed to Jones, who was fouled on his way up. Jones hits both and his replaced in the lineup by Brooks.
Tyrece Gibbs gets into double figures with a 3-pointer and the Wildcats re-take the lead. Chris Babb misses a 3 for PSU and UNH loses the ball out of bounds on its ensuing possession.
3:54 left first half
UNH 27, PSU 26
***
Morrissey misses the front end of a 1-and-1, UNH misses a jumper and Talor Battle drives through traffic for a lay-up all within a few seconds.
Timeout UNH.
7:04 left first half
UNH 20, PSU 19
***
Tyrece Gibbs extends the UNH lead from long range. Lead back to 5 and Talor Battle almost sloppily turned the ball over on the in bounds but it the ball went out off of UNH.
Talor Battle hits his first field goal and the lad is 20-17. UNH head coach Bill Herrion has been putting on quite the show on the sidelines. His voice can be heard throughout the arena and he is constantly running up and down the UNH bench, shouting and waving his arms.
7:34 left first half
UNH 20, PSU 17
***
PSU continues to feed the ball down low. Cornley with a nice turn around hook shot. 15-11 UNH.
Freshman Cammeron Woodyard has entered the game for Stanley Pringle.
Alvin Abreu with a terrific drive and lay-up in traffic for the Wildcats. Cornley again gets on the scoreboard at the other end. The lead is back to 4.
Penn State is already in the bonus as the Wildcats have out-fouled the Lions 7-2 in the first 10 minutes. Cornley hits the first in a 1-and-1 at the line.
Cornley will take a well-deserved breather as Jones comes back. Cornley has scored 10 of Penn State's 14 points.
Danny Morrissey and UNH's Colbey Santos just tackled each other while UNH had the ball. No call made and just a very odd situation.
Battle on the line at the other end for PSU shooting two. He missed the first but hit the second. 17-15 UNH.
A UNH missed 3 gives the Lions a chance to tie or take the lead but Woodyard came up empty on a 3.
8:53 left first half
UNH 17, PSU 15
***
Thanksgiving break has made just about every group smaller at this game. The Lionettes are performing with just 8, the pep band is about 2/3 it's normal size and the student section looks about 18-strong at the moment.
***
Cornley breaks the Penn State drought and cuts the lead to 6 out of the timeout. UNH gets called for a carry and we head to another media timeout.
11:59 left first half
UNH 15, PSU 9
***
Penn State immediately turns the ball over out of the timeout and Eric Gilchrese gets an easy fast break lay-up. On the other end, Cornley goes to the line and hits 1-2 free throws. Tied at 7.
We have our first 3-pointer of the game as Tyrece Gibbs connects from long range. In Thursday's game with Hartford, the teams almost exclusively shot 3s early in the game.
And we also have the first Jeff Brooks sighting. The ankle roll must not have been serious. Danny Morrissey also entered the game.
UNH is playing very solid defense and Cornley just took a tough shot in the post and missed. Gilchrese hits a 3 on the other end and UNH is leading by 6.
For some reason Morrissey just posted up and got off a rather ugly shot down low. The ball went out of bounds and PSU stioll has it... until Cornley throws it away. The teams just exchanged missed 3s as PSU is very cold from the field. A Alvin Abreu bucket gives UNH a 15-7 lead as Ed DeChellis takes a timeout.
12:40 left first half
UNH 15, PSU 7
***
Dane DiLiegro wins an awkward opening tip for UNH and we are underway. DiLiegro beats Cornley to a rebound and puts the ball up for 2 to give the Wildcats an early lead.
DiLiegro with another basket as he beat Andrew Jones on a move in the post. 4-0 UNH.
UNH is showing a man-to-man defense right now. Most PSU opponents have sat back in various zones. Another missed PSU shot and UNH looks to build its lead. Instead DiLiegro decided to get called for an offensive foul. Wildcats showing some full court pressure but it's one of those "we're going to act like we're pressing but aren't actually trying to do anything" defenses.
Pringle misses a 3 but Cornley fights for the rebound, puts it up and will go to the line to try to finish a 3-point play. The attempt is off the back of the iron and the lead is 4-2.
Pringle immediately steals the ball and takes it to the rim, where it was swatted out of the basket to draw a goaltending call. Tied at 4 and UNH throws up an air ball.
Drew Jones with a nice move down low and a short jumper to give PSU its first lead. Tyrone Conley drives for the Wildcats and draws a Pringle foul. He'll shoot two. Conley hits the first but misses the second. 6-5 PSU.
Penn State continues to feed the ball inside, as Jones missed a short shot, got the rebound but had the ball deflected out of bounds. Media timeout.
15:44 left first half
PSU 6, UNH 5
***
One of the big questions heading into today was the status of Penn State forward Jeff Brooks. Brooks missed the first game because of a concussion and left early in the Hartford game after turning his ankle. His status was unknown after that game but he is wearing an ankle brace right now and appeared fine during warm-ups.
***
What's up Penn State basketball fans, Matt Brown here to take you through the first half of today's showdown between the Penn State Nittany Lions (3-0) and the New Hampshire Wildcats (1-1). Penn State is riding an eight game home winning streak dating back to last year, including victories over William & Mary, NJIT and Hartford to start this season. The Wildcats hammered Suffolk 101-50 in their first game before dropping a game to Harvard, 80-69.
Last year, the Wildcats finished seventh in the America East conference with a 6-10 conference record and a 9-20 record overall.
Starting Lineups:
Penn State
G- 12 Talor Battle
G- 11 Stanley Pringle
F- 15 D.J. Jackson
F- 2 Jamelle Cornley
C- 22 Andrew Jones
New Hampshire
G- 23 Eric Gilchrese
G- 21 Tyrone Conley
G- 4 Tyrece Gibbs
F- 15 Rony Tchatchoua
C- 1 Dane DiLiegro
We're about 3 minutes from tip-off in a rather quiet Bryce Jordan Center. As Thanksgiving break has started, the student section consists of a row and a half of fans behind the basket to our right.
Comments
Okay, so it's only December. But Wisconsin survived a scare from Iona last night, winning 60-58 in double OT. Michigan became the first Big Ten team to drop a game so far this season, falling to Duke 71-56, in the finals of the 2K Sports Classic Benfiting Coaches vs. Cancer at the Garden last night. We'll give them the benefit of the doubt, considering they upset UCLA last night, a huge win for the Big Ten.
But topping all of that is the Virginia Tech/Xavier finish. In case you missed it...
Sorry folks but I just figured out how to get my radio set up to listen to the match, being as it is away.
Haven't heard a score in the dual yet, but it sounds like No. 2 Dan Vallimont at 157 is down 1-0 in the second period, but Vallimont had a hold of No. 5 Jordan Leen's right leg, on the verge of a takedown until the referee stopped play because it was a potentially dangerous call. Coaches sounded furious.
Blood on Leen stops play now.
***
Action back with 1:37 remaining in the 3rd period, Vallimont down 1-0.
Vallimont was close to getting a takedown, but Leen countered for a takedown of his own, appears as if he has Vallimont down.
***
Leen appears to have won the match,3-0, but just threw a punch at Vallimont? After an apparent missed call, Sunderland was going nuts, the announcer said.
Bubba must have majored his opponent, because the match is now 4-3. The announcers are describing the scene on the Penn State bench as stunned. Sounds like Vallimont and Leen put on a show, just as we suspected from two top-5 grapplers.
165 coming up now.
***
Mark Friend is facing the No. 1-ranked 165-pounder in the nation, Mack Lewnes, and we have a tied score after the first period. Sounds like an even match from what I can tell, with both guys utilizing moves. Still tied with 1:03 in the 2nd period.
***
Tied at 0-0 going into the 3rd period.
But a reversal by Lewnes 15 seconds kicks off the scoring, 2-0, now.
Friend has been close to escapes and reversals but hasn't been able to convert.
Two double legs in the last minute of the third period equals a 7-2 victory for Lewnes. Friend gave a good effort but will drop the match.
Cornell now takes the lead in the dual, 6-4.
***
No. 16 Quentin Wright vs. No. 5 Steve Anceravage at 174 now.
Freshman versus senior here. If Wright wrestles like he did against Hofstra, he definitely has a chance to pull off another upset.
***
Back-and-forth play, constantly going off the mat in the 1st period, no score after the first period.
Still no score with 1:24 in the 2nd period. Wright and Anceravage are wrestling very evenly, each wrestler counters the other on every move.
Tied going into the 3rd. Wright decides to take freestyle position to start off the period.
***
1:17 remaining, still 0-0.
Wright went for the headlock but suffered an easy takedown. He escapes but now down 2-1.
And now Anceravage counters a strong attempt by Wright and takes Wright down to the mat.
Wright goes down swinging, going for many moves throughout the match, but a seasoned wrestler was ready for the moves.
The freshman falls, 6-1. Cornell now leads 9-4.
***
184: No. 13 Phil Bomberger vs. No. 18 Justin Kerber
Kerber executes an early takedown but Bomberger escapes, 2-1 now.
Bomberger fighting hard to get position, but Kerber keeping strong, nine seconds left as the wrestlers move off the mat. 2-1 Kerber lead going into the second.
***
Bomberger edges out of a hold for an escape with 1:06 in the second period, bout now tied at 2-2.
Kerber executes a double leg and finishes off a takedown to go up 4-2 at the end of the second period.
Kerber takes bottom, up 4-2 going into the third.
***
17 seconds left in the match, Bomberger still down. 6-2 loss to Kerber.
Cornell has now won four consecutive matches, and lead 12-4 after half the matches.
Three minute break in the action now. For a mid-match synopsis, it appears as if the Nittany Lions have come out with a lot more intensity than they did against Hofstra, but have not been able to capitalize on some opportunities for takedowns. That Vallimont-Leen match was a real momentum swinger, probably sucked a lot out of the Lions.
Wrap-up of wrestling so far:
149 - No. 2 Bubba Jenkins maj.decision over Grant Daffin
157 - No. 5 Jordan Leen dec. over No. 2 Dan Vallimont
165 - No. 1 Mack Lewnes dec. over Mark Friend
174 - No. 5 Steve Anceravage dec. over No. 16 Quentin Wright
184 - No. 18 Justin Kerber dec. over No. 12 Phil Bomberger
***
Adam Fry, junior, Pittsburgh native is battling cancer and Cornell has taken a 3-minute intermission as the dance team performs and the program recognizes Fry. The radio announcer said Fry is a remarkable wrestler but he is obviously fighting for his life right now. Puts everything in perspective for you just a little bit.
***
197-pound weight class now: Clay Steadman vs. Cam Simaz
Steadman, a redshirt freshman, will grapple in his dual meet debut. For Penn State to achieve a comeback they are going to have to get a good effort here out of Steadman, but it probably is too much to ask of Steadman.
Haile reportedly will be out for an extended period of time, probably a 3-4 month recovery time on a knee injury. This is going to hurt for the Lions -- Haile had a lot of potential at 197 and if he is out for the season then the unproven Steadman is going to have to fill in for a senior.
Simaz gets a takedown on Steadman to go up 2-0. Sounds like Steadman turned right into Simaz for the takedown, first-match nerves and now the team's performance riding on his back. Can't really blame him.
An escape from Steadman brings the match to 2-1. End of first period.
***
Steadman recorded a takedown, only to be pinned seconds later by the freshman Simaz. That might be the nail in the coffin for the Lions, as they now trail the Big Red 18-4.
***
Heavyweight action now: Cameron Wade of PSU vs. No. 10 Zach Hammond
The senior Hammond leads Wade, 2-1, after first period action.
Wade picks bottom position to start the 2nd. Wade cuts loose from Hammond for an escape. Match tied at 2-2.
The redshirt freshman, Wade, had two pins at the Michigan State Open and that's probably the only way Penn State has a realistic shot of coming back.
***
Second period ends in a tie 2-2. Neutral start to begin the . 1:28 riding time advantage to Hammond so Wade needs to do some work to win it.
And just as I typed that, Hammond takes down Wade to go up 4-2 now. An escape for Wade now 4-3, but with the riding time advantage, it will now be a 5-3 lead. Wade has to show his abilities on his feet for some takedowns.
No. 10 Hammond records his third takedown, leading 7-3, then he pushed Wade away for the escape, 7-4.
Wade gets a takedown as the buzzer goes off, so the riding time advantage is the difference as Wade falls, 7-6 to Hammond.
Cornell builds on their lead, leading 21-4 now.
***
125 action now: Brad Pataky vs. Frank Perrelli
Perrelli gets an early takedown, for a 2-0 advantage. Play stopped for about two minutes but Pataky got an escape, 2-1 now.
Pataky takedown on a single-leg move, 3-2 now takes Perrelli on the other side now for a three-point move, an impressive move to go ahead 6-2 now. This is the Pataky that I expect to watch every match, he is so fast on his feet and very intelligent in his execution. That Hofstra match was disappointing, but Pataky can keep Penn State alive here in the dual meet.
Perrelli gets out of Pataky's grasp, escaping to move the score to 6-3 after the first period.
***
In the second period Pataky starts off in the bottom position and earns an escape to move the score to 7-3.
Back-and-forth wrestling now in the second period, 8-5 going into the third period.
One minute remaining in the third, blood coming from Pataky's eye stopping play, score still 8-5.
I think Pataky needs to hold onto this match just to bolster the score and not allow it to get too out of hand.
Pataky holds on to win the match, 9-6, moving the score to 21-7.
***
133: Troy Nickerson vs. Tim Haas
Nickerson is the No. 2-ranked grappler in the country at 125, but moves up to 133 tonight to wrestle against Haas.
Haas is in a battle with Nickerson in a physical matchup in the opening period.
No score going into the second period.
Haas almost had Nickerson in a headlock but Nickerson evaded just in time. Haas is really battling Nickerson -- no score here at 133.
***
Nickerson takes down Haas in the third period to go up 2-0, and has Haas down on the ground until Haas executes a "crafty" reversal, but the referees award Nickerson with a reversal, although the radio announcer says the call "inexcusable" and said official Tim Doren is "in over his head." It has appeared that every call has gone Cornell's way this evening.
Nickerson ensures the decision, moving Cornell to 24-7 over PSU.
***
The final weight-class: No. 3 Mike Gray vs. Frank Molinaro
Molinaro gets a takedown to put Gray down on the mat early with a 2-0 advantage. The redshirt freshman is "punishing" Gray now on the mat, riding Gray out for a good amount of time.
This is a very impressive showing from Molinaro. Gray is a returning All-American. The wrestlers move off the mat and now Gray escapes after continuation so the score is 2-1.
Molinaro leads the match 2-1 now, leading riding time with 1:44.
***
Molinaro starts off in the bottom position and gets an escape to move the score to 3-1. Sounds like he's coming out really focused after his opening loss against Hofstra. You gotta feel like Molinaro was very angry with himself with that loss, so he's coming out to prove himself right now.
Illegal hold awarded to Gray, score now 3-2.
Double leg move now by Molinaro perfectly executed -- a four-point move by Molinaro at the end of the 2nd period, as he takes a 7-2 advantage into the third period. Molinaro is the type of kid who can beat anyone at any point. He is freakishly strong.
Despite a loss for the Nittany Lions, Molinaro completely dominated this match. Very good sign for Penn State to end the dual meet on a high note.
***
So Penn State drops the dual meet 24-10 to Cornell. While it sounded like the team came out with a lot more intensity than was displayed against Hofstra, there were some opportunities to win a couple of the matches. They won't be happy with the loss, obviously, but you can't be too disappointed. It's early in the year, a lot of emotion was on teh side of Cornell with the halftime presentation and what not.
Obviously I was not at Ithaca, NY tonight, but my educated guess would be that the turning point in the dual match, if you could point to one, would be the Dan Vallimont-Jordan Leen match. Everyone knew that was the feature match coming in. And combine that with some controversial calls down the stretch, that may have had a downing effect on the team.
Penn State now travels to Binghamton for the Sprawl and Brawl Duals on Sunday against No. 24 Virginia, No. 15 Edinboro and host Binghamton
Well, thanks for checking out our first live blog of the season. Please let me know how badly I screwed it up. But in all honesty, do give us feedback at any point throughout the year with any comments or questions you may have about Nittany Lion wrestling.
Hopefully we'll be able to bring you another live blog of the matches Sunday. Mad props to WBLF, 970AM for some really great announcing tonight.
Lady Lions 80, Lady Panthers 49 is the final. It was truly a tale of two halves for Penn State, and if they play like they did tonight against top-tier opposition next week, expect a different result.
That said, three games in, the Lady Lions are where they are supposed to be, 3-0.
We'll see you Dec. 6 for the lady lions' next home game, against Dayton. Until then, stay posted with the blog as we give you updates on the Lady Lions and NCAA women's basketball.
Check the Collegian Web site for a web update on tonight's game with stats quotes and analysis.
Au Revoir,
-AJ Cassavell
***
3:59 to go 2nd half: Penn State 67, Prairie View 43
I'm gonna head down to the press room, but I'll check back in later with a final score, and some stats. It's been a slow-moving sloppy game with a lot of whistles and a lot of turnovers, but it appears the Lady Lions will open their 2008-09 campaign, 3-0. But don't let the final score confuse you. The Lady Lions played well in their first two wins. Tonight was ugly-- but a victory, nonetheless.
***
7:57 to go 2nd Half: Penn State 55, Prairie View 40
Fans getting frustrated with the officials, just as they always do. Although they aren't terrible calls, I'm guessing it has just been a frustrating night for the fans who have sat through a game like this one.
***
It seems like the Lady Lions have the same sentiment I just wrote about, because they appear to be looking ahead, too.
Right after I had buried the Lady Panthers, they go on an 8-0 run, 49-38 PSU, and the Lady Lions are back to the sloppy play that plagued teh first half.
Has to be frustrating for Washington who figured to get some younger players playing time tonight. So far she hasn't been able because PVAMU keeps hanging around.
***
11:51 to go 2nd half: Penn State 47, Prairie View 30
Grant has stepped up in the second half, teaming up with O'Rourke to score 33 of the Lady Lions' 47 points. The Lady Lions look good, and are finally putting away the feisty Lady Panthers.
With the Lady Lions ahead by 17 some of the crowd has started to head for the exits. Hard to blame them. With the game seemingly decided, there is no reason to expect any excitement in the final few minutes, when the first 29 have provided next to none.
But with the game all but decided, we can finally start to look ahead to what figures to be an extremely difficult week for the Lady Lions, heading to Pittsburgh, and then to Malibu, Calif. for the Timeout for HIV/AIDs Tournament. They will open against No. 7 Texas A&m next friday.
If they play like they played tonight, just one win seems difficult to attain. One things for sure. Next week at this time we will definitely have a better idea of how good/bad this team is one week from tonight.
***
15:36 to go 2nd half: Penn State 37, Prairie View 28
Not much has changed from the first half to the second. The Lady Lions are still winning, but the Lady Panthers are still hanging around. Tyra Grant, however, appears to have woken up, scoring five quick points.
***
A couple stats to note:
-Prairie View has blocked 6 Lady Lion shots
-The Lady Lions are 5 of 11 from 3-point range
-Prairie View is shooting just 26.9 percent
-Penn State's post players have combined for just nine points
-Julia Trogele has four assists
-The Lady Lions attempted two free throws the entire first half
***
Halftime: Penn State 32, Prairie View 26
The Lady Lions have squandered opportunities to run away with this game and they have let the Lady Panthers hang around. First thoughts on the first half:
Brianne O'Rourke seems to be the only Lady Lion who showed up to play, with 13 points. Other than that, the Lady Lions have not established a post presence at all, and they have had problems getting the ball into their post players because of the tight zone defense.
Nonetheless, the Lady Lions are up six, and haven't showed much. After what should be a fiery halftime speech from coach Washington expect the Lady Lions to come out with a different intesity than they did to start the first half.
Halftime stats to come
***
3:59 to go first half: Penn State 25, Prairie View 17
Quinn and O'Rourke have each hit a pair of 3s in the last six minutes, and the Lady Lion defense continues to control the game leading to fast break points. Should be interesting to see if the Penn State can put the Lady Panthers away in the next four minutes or if Prairie View can stick around and gain confidence heading into halftime.
***
7:52 to go first half: Penn State 22, Prairie View 13
The Lady Lions appear poised to pull away after Meggan Quinn put in five consecutive points. However, the Lions have scored about four, maybe six points in their set offense. I hate to sound repetetive, but that is the story of the game so far.
Nonetheless, the defense is stepping up, as are Quinn and o'Rourke running the fast break. Penn State looks like they are about to take care of business, at least on the scoreboard.
***
After sitting for about a minue and a half, Brianne O'Rourke is forced to re-enter following three consecutive turnovers in the half-court offense. The Lady Lions may be ahead, but they aren't getting any style points. 17-13.
***
11:26 to go first half: Penn State 13, Prairie View 11
Brianne O'Rourke has single-handedly woken up the Lady Lion offense with six points and an assist in a two minute span, as the Lady Lions are finally able to get out and run in transition. But Washington still has to be concerned with the inefficiency of her half-court offense.
***
Kind of an amusing moment on the court. The PSU band played a few seconds too long-- continuing while Candine Thompson was shooting a free throw. Cooper-Dyke was not pleased to say the least. Washington spoke about how the former WNBA star coached with the same fire she had when she played, and so far she isn't kidding. Cooper-Dyke has her team running a Crisp offense and a fundementally-sound zone defense, 9-6 PV.
***
15:57 to go 1st half: Prairie View 8, Penn State 4
Athletically, Prairie View is matching up well with Penn State, with a couple of blocked shots, and a steal. The difference early is the Lady Lions, sluggishness on offense, hving trouble dissecting the Prairie View 3-2 zone.
***
Tyra Grant opened the scoring with a deuce but Prairie View answers back with a pair of 3s. The Lady Lions may have to stretch their zone if the Lady Panthers continue this shooting from behind the arc. PSU looks sloppy on offense, wasting clock and not getting good shots off. It's 8-2 PV after Chari Smith scores in transition, still early, but another turnover on a travel by Janessa Wolff.
***
Hey folks, it's AJ Cassavell. In the words of the late great Chick Hearn, "Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, we're high above the southern sideline."
Not that I'm old enough to know much about the former Lakers announcer, or that I ever listened to Laker games on the radio, but I used to be a big fan of "NBA Courtside", you know the game where you could take off from half court and dunk, or if you had all the momentum, your slams could knock the entire defense on their rear ends.
Anyway, for tonight's game:
The 2-0 Lady Lions are taking on the 1-2 Prairie View A&M Panthers here at the Bryce Jordan Center, in a reunion of two members of the 2000 WNBA champion Houston Comets. Lady Lion coach Coquese Washington will be meeting two-time WNBA MVP and four-time finals MVP Cynthia Cooper-Dyke.
It is an odd matchup for the Lady Lions, playing a team from Southeast Texas in an early-season matchup that should be preparation for a difficult week next week, when thay face Pittsburgh and Texas A&M. Typically, PSU schedules some smaller games from the area instead of going to the lone star state to find such early-season opponents.
But Washington said her team needed an extra non-conference game, so she gave her old friend a ring and the scheduling people worked out the rest of the details.
A couple things to look for tonight. Although the Lady Panthers come from a small school in a small conference, they are a pretty big team with the majority of their roster taller than 6-foot. Washington has stressed the importance of rebounding, and this could be her teams first real test in that category.
Also, Washignton pointed to the quickness of the Lady Panther guards, saying that her zone couldn't give up any penetration or else the PVAMU (I know, the acronym looks pretty weird to me, too) would have a chance to stay in the ballgame.
PVAMU won the SWAC regular season title last season, and was upset in the finals of the conference's tournament. Anyway, the lineups:
The injury bug has hit the wrestling team once again.
Penn State lost nationally-ranked David Erwin to a shoulder surgery but was able to endure it. Freshman Quentin Wright filled in for Erwin in dramatic fashion, recording a last-second takedown on No. 6-ranked Alton Lucas, propelling himself into the national rankings.
Now the Nittany Lions' depth at 197 will be tested.
Senior 197-pounder Andrew Haile is out indefinitely, according to a press release earlier this week. After winning the Wrestle-offs, Haile made his debut in last weekend's dual meet against Hofstra, after taking a two-year hiatus from wrestling.
Now he'll be sidelined once again.
Freshman Clay Steadman and sophomore Nathan Andrews are now expected to fill in for Haile at the 197-pound class tonight at 7 p.m. at No. 4 Cornell and at the Sprawl and Brawl Duels against No. 15 Edinboro, No. 24 Virginia and host school Binghamton.
Steadman is the likely-incumbent for the 197 starting spot, posting a 1-1 record this season, despite losing twice in Wrestle-offs. Andrews wrestled Haile in the Michigan State Open, losing to him by a 7-3 decision.
Steadman and Andrews are two young wrestlers with impressive high school records. They will certainly be tested this weekend by three-ranked opponents.
Jocelyn will be live-blogging tonight's meet against Cornell starting at 7:00, so be sure to check out Back Points' first live blog experience.
Texas Tech has been the king of lighting up the scoreboard on a weekly basis each Saturday for quite some time now.
Well, it seems Red Raiders men's basketball coach Pat Knight is taking a page out of football coach Mike Leach's handbook. Knight's Raiders dropped 167 points on East Central (Oklahoma), including 90 in the second half.
Even though Tech probably has 4 digit spots on its scoreboards, it was a school record for points in a game.
One can only imagine the euphoria in Lubbock right about now. Its football team is set to take on No. 5 Oklahoma in perhaps a defacto BCS title elimination game. And its basketball program is led by the son of Bob Knight, who unlike his dad, apparently cares more about pizzazz than fundamentally-sound defense.
***
One quick note, Michigan upset No. 4 UCLA last night 55-52, making it that much easier for the Dukies to take home the 2K Sports Classic.
Last FG............2nd-00:10................2nd-01:41
Again, a career high for Stanley Pringle tonight with 23 points. Talor Battle had 21 and Jamelle Cornley had 17 points and 10 rebounds.
The Lions move to 3-0 for the season and return to action 2 p.m. Sunday against New Hampshire. Hartford is now 0-3.
That is all from the Bryce Jordan Center tonight... once again Penn State wins 89-64. This is Matt Brown signing off, thanks for following along.
***
Penn State basketball SID Brian Siegrist has just informed us that Penn State is one three away from tying the school record. Stanley Pringle has also set a career high with 23 points.
Walk-on guard Will Leiner has made an appearance. Cam Woodyard knocks down a three to tie the Penn State all-time record for team threes in a game. The lead is now 31.
More walk-ons take the floor as Steve Kirkpatrick and Adam Highberger take the floor. Woodyard, Babb and Leiner make up the rest of Penn State's five.
Steve Kirkpatrick gets on the scoreboard and Penn State's lead is up to 33. It looks like the Lions will fall short of 100 though, as they'd need 11 points in the last 1:22. Now that would be impressive.
Chris Babb tries to get Penn State a new three-point record but comes up empty. Time is ticking away in that chase.
Drake U'u hits a three for Hartford. After a Penn State turnover, Hartford now has the ball with 13 seconds left and the shot clock off.
U'u hits another three and that's all she wrote.
FINAL SCORE: PENN STATE 89, HARTFORD 64
***
Turner hits two free throws for Hartford. Still no sign of Jeff Brooks on the Penn State bench with under five to play.
Talor Battle will head to the line, and Chris Babb will be making his first appearance of the night. He enters the game for Pringle. Pringle leaves with 23 points, five assists and four rebounds, with no fouls.
D.J. Jackson is now the one PSU player in foul trouble as he picked up his fourth. Everything seems to be going right for Penn State as Battle just leaned in a hit a long two as the shot clock was winding down. 84-56 PSU.
On the other end, Battle picks up PSU's seventh foul of the half. Media timeout.
3:41 remaining
PSU 84, Hartford 56
***
A dangerous in-bounds pass by Pringle deep to Battle is almost stolen, but Battle controls in the backcourt. He misses a three but Penn State controls another offensive rebound and Cornley finishes for two.
Penn State now has an impressive 10 offensive rebounds in this one.
Maciel hits for two for Hartford, but on the other end, PSU adds to the offensive rebound total and Cornley heads back to the free throw line. Cornley hits both. He now has 15 points and 10 rebounds for his second double-double of the season.
Penn State's 24-point lead is its largest lead of the night, and Pringle now heads to the line for a 1-and-1 as Hartford now has seven fouls. Pringle knocks down both, and the lead moves to 26. Cornley hits two more free throws and Penn State reaches 80 for the first time this season.
5:02 left
PSU 80, Hartford 54
***
With the shot clock winding down, Battle fires a cross-court pass for Pringle but it was too wide and lands out of bounds. Penn State had been doing a better job of taking care of the basketball after 11 first-half turnovers.
Danny Morrissey appears fine on the bench but Jeff Brooks is still back out of sight. We'll keep you posted.
Talor Battle just took a hard hit and landed with a rough fall. He was slow getting up and Van Rosenberg drew the ire of the contingent of Penn State students.
7:52 left to play
PSU 72, Hartford 50
***
Hartford comes out of the timeout missing a three but collects a loose ball rebound. Surprise, surprise, Sabia shoots a three and hits for the Hawks.
Jamelle Cornley now heading to the line for PSU. Free throw shooting remains an Achilles' heal for Cornley, and he misses the first but hits the second. 66-47 PSU.
Hartford with a nice look down the lane but Cornley was in great position. On the kickout, Sabia gets nothing but air and PSU takes over.
Jeff Brooks just limped off the court and Cammeron Woodyard has taken his place. Not quite sure what happened to Brooks on the play. Woodyard responds by knocking down a three. Then Zeglinski answers with one of his own.
The teams are a combined 24-42 from three.
Make that 25-43 as Stanley Pringle drills yet another one. Pringle is now up to 21 points.
9:21 left
PSU 72, Hartford 50
***
Jeff Brooks picks up his first foul of the game, which is just the sixth of the game for Penn State. And now we head to a media timeout. You have to love two timeouts with 19 seconds of each other. Then again we're in the age of timeouts before and after kickoffs in football, so we're all used to it I'm sure.
11:57 left
PSU 65, Hartford 44
***
Penn State's current 21-point lead is its largest of the night. The Lions are now shooting 60% from three, while the Hawks have hit on 50% of their threes. It's amazing that these teams are keeping up this pace.
***
More full court pressure from Hartford. PSU gets the ball up court but then has trouble in the half-court and throws the ball way. In the midst of the scramble Danny Morrissey took a hard fall and is now down at midcourt. After a few moments he gets up under his own power and his headed to the bench. D.J. Jackson takes his spot in the lineup.
PSU beats the press this time and sets things up with Pringle in control. And Stanley knocks down a long-range shot for three. PSU back up 14.
Zeglinski and Pringle exchange three-point misses and Jackson collects a rebound, is fouled and hits both free throws.
In transition Cornley makes a nice move down the lane and hits a two. A Jackson three pointer forces a Hartford timeout.
12:16 left to go
PSU 65, Hartford 44
***
Von Rosenberg hits the first bucket of the second half to cut PSU's lead down to 47-34. After the start to the game, I still find it surprising when the Hawks don't shoot a three.
The Lions work it inside against Hartford's 2-3 zone and Andrew Jones draws a tough foul. With the way Penn State shot late in the first half it's somewhat surprising to see Hartford stick with this defense. And Pringle drills another three.
For the second time this game, Joe Zeglinski got fouled on a three point attempt. This time Battle was the culprit. He hits 2-of-3 from the line.
Cornley answers right away to put the lead back at 16.
Von Rosenberg hits a three and Hartford shows some loose full court pressure that gives PSU little trouble. Jackson misses a three but PSU gets the ball back in transition... and Jackson misses a long two.
Turner shoots and air ball from three but the Hawks re-gain control and Zeglinski hits a three anyway. Of course, Battle responds with a three.
In case you haven't noticed, there have been a lot of three-point attempts tonight... and Battle blocks a Hartford attempt. Media timeout.
14:29 left
Penn State 55, Hartford 42
***
Hey everyone, Matt Brown taking over for Nate Mink here in the second half. We'll see if the fast-paced game continues, as right Penn State is on pace for 94 points with a 47-32 halftime lead. Rebounding had been a question mark, but the Lions hold a 18-5 advantage in that category.
***
Here's some first half stats and analysis.
UH PSU
Field goals 12-25 48.0% 18-28 64.3%
3-point FGs 7-13 53.8% 8-14 57.1%
Free throws 1-3 33.3% 3-5 60.0%
Reb (O-D) 5 (1-4) 18 (6-12)
Turnovers 8 11
Last FG 1st-00:39 1st-00:03
Large lead 1 (1st-19:08) 15 (1st-00:03)
Well, both teams are shooting lights out from beyond the arc. The Lions are simply getting more balanced scoring ... shooting 64 percent helps, too. Let's see if the Hawks switch up their defense in the second half. If Penn State continues to get open looks, it'll keep knocking down.
Head coach Ed DeChellis has to be pleased with the 18-5 rebounding advantage his team has. Coming into tonight, he made rebounding a focal point of the team's practices this week. Practice makes perfect, I guess. And if you're Hartford, how do you only have five rebounds in one half?
Well, I'm finished with this whole blogging thing for tonight. Colleague Matt Brown takes over for the second half. This white blimp that drops coupons is getting awfully close to me. I'mma duck downstairs to grab a beverage.
***
All right, shot clock turned off. Here we go. 10 seconds left, Battle dribbles around the perimeter, dishes to Pringle on the wing, who head fakes and finds a wide open Morrissey in the left corner.
Splash!
Halftime
PSU 47, Hartford 32
***
Cornley flashes again in the 2-3 zone, power dribbles, spin and converts a lay-in.
Next Hawk possession ends with Morrissey drawing a charge.
Credit the Lions swift ball movement on the perimeter for beating the Hawks' 2-3 zone this half.
Lions really buying into that whole offensive rebounding focus. Jackson crashes the boards for a put back.
Beautiful pass by Battle to Pringle, who earns a trip to line.
51.1 seconds left 1st half
PSU 44, Hartford 30
***
The Lions' backcourt of Battle and Pringle have 24 of the 35 total points, almost all coming on three-point possessions.
Battle sinks his free throw from the last foul to put the Lions up seven with just under four minutes to play first half.
Horrible pass by Sabia. Tonight, turnovers turn into 3 points the other way. Morrissey drains another three point shot.
3:14 left 1st half
PSU 39, Hartford 29
***
I'm pretty sure Jackson just threw his arms up on the tip and the ball happened to go to in. Battle makes it look much smoother completing a three point play on the next possession. Lions back up by four.
Turner answers on the other end with a three. Lions give it right when the ball goes right through Pringle's hands out of bounds.
Lions get the ball to Cornley flashing to the ball in the Hawks' 2-3 zone. Cornley ducked a defender and put in a little one-handed right floater.
Battle leads the break then dishes back to Pringle who squares up for an uncontested three. Battle again finishes on a fast break despite getting hacked. This crowd is now fired up.
3:54 left 1st half
PSU 35, Hartford 29
***
Sabia drills a three to put the Hawks up one with just over seven to play first half.
Battle slipped in the corner right by the Hartford bench, didn't get called for traveling, then was swarmed by Hawk defenders. Battle took a TO.
6:49 left 1st half
Hartford 24, PSU 23
***
Jones tries to be aggressive driving baseline, but he ends up traveling. Hartford ball.
7:57 left 1st half
PSU 23, Hartford 21
***
Pringle crossed up Clayton Brothers. And no, that's only one person. I wonder if Clayton is an only child?
Hartford hangin tough out there. They trail by three midway through the first half.
Pringle gets some dribble penetration and goes glass for 2 points.
A head fake by von Rosenberg allows him to side step and nail a three.
Pringle misfired from long distance, but Cornley grabs the offensive rebound and is fouled.
8:36 left 1st half
PSU 23, Hartford 21
***
Penn State is crashing the offensive glass here, but is unable to pull down any boards. Good news though, the Lions are staying away from the cheap fouls. They have just one.
11:52 left 1st half
PSU 21, Hartford 15
***
Brooks checks in for Jones. Danny Morrissey also comes in for Jackson. Hartford showing a press and trap here, forcing a Lion turnover. Anthony Minor got good position down low for a lay-up. Pringle back with three more on the other end.
Genesis Maciel, straight outta Compton, gets called for an offensive foul. Morrissey drills another Lion three left wing.
Battle's attacks the hoop, drawing the foul and finishing with the right hand.
13:32 left 1st half
PSU 21, Hartford 12
***
Another Battle three ball. Jeff Brooks heads to the scorer's table to check in. The Lions are clicking on the offensive end early on. Hartford is staying with 'em though.
15:17 left 1st half
PSU 13, Hartford 10
***
Ok. Looks like we're ready to go. A small contingent of Hartford students made the trip down for this one. Cornley knocks down the first 2 pts. of the game.
Estes answers with a three on the other end.
Battle continues his hot stroke to start the year. He's now 8-14 on 3-pointers for the year with that trey. Pringle answers Battle with a three of his own. The Lions continue to shoot the ball well from the outside. I know it's early in the year, but that three-ball might be this team's bread and butter.
17:22 left 1st half
PSU 8, Hartford 6
***
Penn State takes the game's first possession. Apparently the shot clock never started. Small delay early on.
***
Penn State is riding its longest home win streak in nine years with seven straight wins at the BJC.
Hartford took a pretty nasty 43-point loss at UCONN the other night. This after trailing by just four in the second half.
Tip-off is right around the corner. Hang tight.
***
Hey Penn State basketball fans, Mink here to give you first half highlights of tonight's game against Hartford. Tip-off is about 20 minutes away. Here's the deal on the Hawks from Connecticut.
Joe Zeglinski of Philadelphia's Archbishop Ryan is perhaps the most dangerous player the Hawks have. Hartford's game notes have him listed as the "go-to-guy" in crunch time. The six-foot junior guard was voted preseason All-Conference in the America East.
Anytime I see the name America East, I think of the Retrievers of UMBC, last year's conference champion. Lehigh Valley greats Ray Barbosa and Jay Greene formed the UMBC back court last season.
But on to the game. Tonight's projected starting lineups:
It's your neighborhood Lady Lion reporter Wayne Staats here at the BJC to keep you updated on Penn State's game against Stony Brook.
And in case you're wondering, the opening is a tribute to the wonderful Nickelodeon show back in the day.
Anyway, the Lady Lions (1-0) are playing the second of third games in just six days, with the first one being a win against South Carolina. In that game, Penn State contained SC's Demetress Adams in the post to build a 10-point halftime lead that was sustained throughout.
Tonight, Penn State plays the struggling Seawolves (0-2). Stony Brook, from New York, has lost to Quinnipiac and Michigan State. The Seawolves are good at creating turnovers in the halfcourt offense of their opponent, but are undersized and are being outrebounded by 14.5 boards per game.
Here are tonight's starting line-ups:
Penn State
Brianne O'Rourke
Tyra Grant
Meggan Quinn
Julia Trogele
Evelyn Lewis
Stony Brook
Cassie Klockgether
Misha Horsey
Joia Daniels
Kirsten Jeter
Sarah Kazadi
On a side note, the Lady Lions entered out of the tunnel through fog, very Miami (Fla.)-esque. But whether this was planned or not remains to be seen...interesting.
PSU-7, Stony Brook-0; 15:05 left in 1st Half
Penn State's defense continues to be dominating. Stony Brook has been blocked once, O'Rourke has stole the ball once for a nice fastbreak bucket to Quinn.
Lewis has been very strong in the post. She has four points already, with both field goals coming on strong post moves to shake the defender.
Coach Coquese Washington said in Tuesday's press conference she wanted to see more transition points coming off of defensive halfcourt turnovers. The game just started, but O'Rourkes theft and outlook to Quinn has to put a smile on her face.
PSU-16, Stony Brook-3; 11:31 left in 1st half
The Seawolves finally get on the board at the 12:34 mark with a 3-pointer by Jodie Plikus.
Unfortunately for her and her teammates, Penn State can't be stopped offensively. The last three possessions have seen lobs to Janessa Wolff, and Stony Brook has been unable to stop it. Wolff has 5 points on those three lob attempts, and the Lady Lions remain efficient after scoring the first 14 points in the game. We haven't seen a run like that since...last night, when the Gonzaga men's team scored the first 17 points against Idaho.
PSU-26, Stony Brook-7; 7:53 left in the first half
No change. Penn State is still able to do anything it wants to on offense, and O'Rourke has put up four assists early on.
Quinn hit a 3 to stretch the lead to 21, so it will be interesting to see if she is able to find her stroke again.
Freshman Emily Phillips enters into a regular season game for the first time in her careeer, and even the Energizer Bunny would be envious of her energy and intensity she brings out on the court.
PSU-37, Stony Brook-10; 3:59 left
The highlight of the night for the Seawolves may be Kairsten Nunn's inbounds toss off of Wolff's back, almost allowing her to get a lay up. She was fouled by Wolff.
Defensively, Wolff had a thunderous block which drove the bench to stand up. On the other side of the court, Renee Womack continues to look impressive. She outhustled her defender to grab a rebound for an easy putback.
PSU-47, Stony Brook-14; halftime
The frustration is really starting to settle in for the Seawolves.
Nunn bounced the ball on the ground in frustration after another Stony Brook offensive foul. Although the foul came on the offensive end, Penn State was in the bonus, so it translated into a Grant free throw.
Freshman Zhaque Gray has also looked impressive so far. Not only has she hit a 3, but she also scored on a lay up with a little more than 2 seconds left in the half as the Lady Lions stretched their lead to a game-high 33 points.
-Rashida Mark looks like a strong bet to post a double-double. She had seven points and seven rebounds in the first half.
-O'Rourke also can have a double-double. She posted eight points and five assists.
-Grant (7 and 4), Trogele (4 and 5) and Renee Womack (4 and 5) also have a chance to make a run for a double-double.
-Penn State's free throw shooting. The only area the Lady Lions are struggling in is at the charity stripe. They are hitting below 70 percent once again.
PSU-57, Stony Brook-17; 15:48 left in the game
The highlight early on in the second half was Quinn's no-look pass to a cutting Womack for an easy deuce on a fastbreak.
Trogele's prospects for a double-double rise a bit with four quick points to open the half, but look for increased playing time for the freshmen and bench players as this game continues to get out of hand.
PSU-69, SB-29; 11:52 left
Gray scores five more points to push her total to 10.
Grant is getting into a rhythm on offense, as she delivered a no-look pass to a wide-open Wolff for an easy two. She also created another shot for herself as the Lady Lions are sprinting by last game's point total of 56.
PSU-78, Stony Brook-40; 7:19 left
The Grant Show is now accepting bids for ticket offers.
Grant continues to sacrifice her body to go to the foul line. Despite being up by a huge margin, she remains as physical as ever. On one play, she was able to loop under the basket for a hook lay up.
But she is taken out heading into the timeout, so her night may finally be over with 15 points.
PSU-84, Stony Brook-48; 3:52 left
All three freshmen are on the court at the same time -- a first for the season.
Womack scores on a nice cut through the line with an assist from Nicole Arcidiacono.
The Seawolves are starting to hit their shots, but the Lady Lions continue to score at will (at least when they aren't turning the ball over), so Stony Brook isn't making much headway yet.
PSU-97, Stony Brook-58; FINAL
Stony Brook had a nice run at the end of the game to cut the deficit a bit, but Penn State overall looked very sharp.
The Lady Lions have difficult games coming up against NCAA teams from last season, so a dominating win like this can only instill more confidence.
O'Rourke was constantly finding open teammates, the post players dominated on the glass and in scoring and even the freshmen got in on the fun.
Gray exceeded double figures in the best performance for her so far in her very short career. Womack also looked quick to play the ball and did well anticipating actions, while Phillips had a few solid moments herself with a couple of nice passes through defenders.
With the win, the Lady Lions move to 2-0 on the young season. WNBA legend Cynthia Cooper, who seemed to win every game while in a Houston Comets uniform, and her Prairie View A&M Panthers arrive here at the BJC for a 7 pm. start time.
Have a good night, kiddos. This is Wayne signing off.
Comments
Penn State has dropped seven spots to No. 14 in the latest InterMat/USA Today poll, after being upset by Hofstra on Sunday, 18-15 at Rec Hall. Hofstra went from unranked to No. 16 in the country.
Freshman Quentin Wright, however, wasted no time gaining national attention for his victory over then-No.6 Alton Lucas, climbing up into 174-pound weight class national rankings at No. 16. The Wingate, Pa. native is one of only eight freshmen wrestlers in the country to be ranked. Pretty impressive for a guy who was planning to redshirt a week ago.
Dan Vallimont moved up to No. 2 at 157, which sets up a very intriguing matchup with Edinboro's Gregor Gillespie on Sunday in the Sprawl and Brawl Duels. Vallimont is 1-3 all-time against Gillespie, who is ranked No. 3 in the country, but that win came in last year's NCAA tournament, as Vallimont knocked off the Edinboro wrestler when he was ranked No. 1.
184-pounder Phil Bomberger is now ranked No. 13 in the country, one ahead of Edinboro sophomore Chris Honeycutt. They will square off in the Sprawl and Brawl duels as well.
Bubba Jenkins maintained his spot at No. 2, and will face Gregor Gillespie's brother, No. 17-ranked Torsten Gillespie, on Sunday.
Bubba Jenkins has had nightmares ever since losing to his foe, Brent Metcalf, in the final round of NCAAs last season. Admittedly, the loss has taken a toll on him.
But it has also driven him his training all summer long.
"I go to sleep thinking about him, I wake up thinking about him," the junior captain said a couple weeks ago at wrestling's media day. "It might sound crazy. It hurt me to lose that way, thinking he was better than me."
Then came Jenkins' chance at revenge -- to rid himself of his nightmare. A rematch was set, once Jenkins accepted a bid to wrestle against Metcalf in the NWCA All-Star Classic in Columbus, Ohio on November 24th.
"That's definitely highlighted on a different color on my schedule," Jenkins said. "I've been dreaming and nightmaring about this guy since I lost to him."
Now, after a loss to Hofstra in its opening dual meet, Penn State announced today Jenkins and All-American Dan Vallimont would forego an appearance in the All-Star match to wrestle in the Sprawl and Brawl meets Sunday against Virginia, Edinboro and Binghamton.
"In no way do we want to disappoint our fans, who were excited to see Bubba and Dan wrestle in the Classic, but we feel that in order to continue to work towards our goal of conference and national titles, we need to focus on this team as a unit," head coach Troy Sunderland said in a press release. "Bubba and Dan are team leaders and at this time of the year, we need them to unite this team. Consequently, the coaching staff has asked that they sacrifice their individual pursuits for the continued development of our young squad."
After losing to Iowa's storied 149-pounder in the championship round of NCAA's last year, Jenkins told Collegian reporters he was "most likely" redshirting after the crushing defeat.
But after letting the dust settle from the loss, Jenkins said his coaches told him this was the year that Penn State was going to make the push for a national championship and to do so, he was going to be a vital part of this team's effort. His apparent agreement to forego the All-Star rematch shows the team captain is more focused on his team's goals than individual vengeance against Metcalf.
Plus, it will be all the more exciting when Jenkins does actually face Metcalf.
Now, you have to assume Bubba has cross-outs all over his schedule, and a new match is in unique colors. A dual meet matchup with Iowa on Feb. 8 in Happy Valley.
If you want to see a good collegiate wrestling match, I suggest you come out to Rec Hall and watch Bubba sprawl with his enemy.
Welcome to the home for everything about Penn State wrestling, Back Points.
On this blog, Jocelyn and I, your Collegian wrestling reporters, will bring you the latest news and interesting stories that wrestling fans want to know about.
If you have any opinions or comments, please feel free to e-mail us. We welcome any feedback on our work. We look forward to bringing you live blogs of home and away matches, so be sure to come to Back Points for everything about the Nittany Lions wrestling team. And of course, check The Daily Collegian everyday for our wrestling coverage.
The ACHA's fourth regular season ranking will not be released until Friday, so this week's Roundup will feature the same rankings that were released on November 7. This weekend's slate of games includes No. 1 Illinois taking on No. 2 Lindenwood, as well as a pair of other top-10 matchups. Here's how everyone did this past weekend and what they have coming up.
1. Illinois (29 1st place votes) - Record: 13-1-0 Last Week: The Illini swept No. 12 Michigan-Dearborn, winning 9-1 Friday and 10-1 Saturday. Up Next: at No. 2 Lindenwood. Illinois shut Michigan-Dearborn down offensively; the Wolves had scored 98 goals in their previous 15 games.
2. Lindenwood (7) - Record: 16-1-1 Last Week: Lindenwood beat Eastern Michigan 12-2 Friday and 7-5 Saturday. Up Next: vs. No. 1 Illinois. The Lions have outscored their opponents 138-37 this season.
3. Penn State (5) - Record: 11-2-0 Last Week: The Icers swept Navy, winning 7-2 Friday and 5-0 Saturday. Up Next: at No. 10 Rhode Island. Goalie Teddy Hume notched Penn State's first shutout of the season in Saturday's win.
4. Liberty - Record: 13-3-1 Last Week: The Flames split a closely-contested series with No. 5 Delaware. Liberty fell Friday 5-3 but won Saturday 4-3. Up Next: at No. 18 Oakland. Liberty has five players with at least 20 points scored this season, led by Robert Vanwynsberghe's 32.
5. Delaware (1) - Record: 10-3-2 Last Week: The Blue Hens split with No. 4 Liberty. Delaware won Friday's contest 5-3 before falling Saturday by a score of 4-3. Up Next: a home-and-home series with Drexel; Delaware will host the Dragons Friday before traveling to Philadelphia for Saturday's game. The Blue Hens are just 2-2 in their past four games after starting the season 8-1-2.
6. Oklahoma - Record: 12-2-0 Last Week: The Sooners beat No. 11 Central Oklahoma Friday by a score of 3-1, but fell in Saturday's game 2-1. Up Next: vs. No. 7 Iowa State. Even though Oklahoma has only played 14 games, they have three players who have scored at least a dozen goals. Kyle Allan leads the Sooners with 15 scores.
7. Iowa State - Record: 15-2-1 Last Week: The Cyclones beat No. 9 Kent State Friday by a score of 3-2. The two teams tied at 7 in Saturday night's game. Up Next: at No. 6 Oklahoma. This weekend's road trip to Norman will be strange for Iowa State - they have played only two away games this season.
8. West Chester - Record: 9-4-0 Last Week: The Golden Rams beat Villanova 6-4 Friday. In Saturday's game, West Chester knocked off No. 19 Stony Brook 6-3. Up Next: West Chester will play a home-and-home series with Towson; Friday's game will be at West Chester. The Golden Rams have two 30-point scorers this season despite only playing 13 games: Jim Gehring (31) and Pat Johnson (30).
9. Kent State - Record: 9-5-1 Last Week: The Golden Flashes fell to No. 7 Iowa State 3-2 Friday before tying Saturday's game at 7-all. Up Next: Kent State will take on Washington & Jefferson Friday and Adrian Saturday. Both games are at home. The Golden Flashes are the fourth team from the Central States Collegiate Hockey League in the Top 10. The other three are No. 1 Illinois, No. 2 Lindenwood and No. 7 Iowa State.
10. Rhode Island - Record: 10-4-1 Last Week: The Rams beat Wesleyan University (an NCAA Division III school) by a score of 6-4 in Rhode Island's only game of the weekend. Up Next: vs. No. 3 Penn State. The Rams are 8-1 at home this season, but just 2-3 on the road (their overtime loss came at a neutral site at the hands of No. 11 Central Oklahoma at the ACHA Showcase).
HoopGurlz No. 19 recruit Nikki Greene signed her letter of intent Monday, meaning the 6-foot-5 forward from Diboll, Texas, will play for Coquese Washington and the Lady Lions next season.
This is pretty big for Penn State, who have been undersized in the traditionally physical Big Ten for years. While Washington's style of fast-paced transition basketball works better with small, quick players, a dominating post presence will certainly help this team contend with the likes of Allyssa DeHaan and the rest of the big post players in the conference.
Greene's potential "is off the charts," Washington said in a press release. There's no doubt Washington really wanted this fast, tall forward. With Greene and the rest of the Lions' 2009 recruiting class -- ranked 7th overall by Blue Star Basketball and 13th by the All-Star Girls Report before the Greene signing -- next year's freshman class should make a big impact for years to come.
Jeff Brooks hits his first FG of the year as he knocks down a trey.
Steve Kirkpatrick dives on the floor after a loose ball in a game that is clearly over, drawing cheers from the crowd.
The Garris brothers foul out within a minute of each other. NJIT is left with six eligible players, two of whom are in the game with four fouls. You thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?
Looks like Woodyard's night isn't finished just yet, as he replaces Brooks after he fouls out.
Leiner dribbles out the clock, and Penn State wins this one, 74-47, to go to 2-0. Hartford is next up for the Lions on Thursday, and the drough continues for the Highlanders. 35 straight losses.
Stats below:
NJIT PSU
Field goals 13-50 26.0% 24-53 45.3%
3-point FGs 7-23 30.4% 13-27 48.1%
Free throws 14-19 73.7% 13-24 54.2%
Reb (O-D) 33 (8-25) 39 (8-31)
Turnovers 24 19
Thanks for joining us. Signing off from the BJC, it's Matt Fortuna. Have a good one fellas.
***
Babb (finally) gets into the game out of the timeout.
Justin Garris dribbles the ball off his foot while driving to the bucket. I know, I know. You're no longer surprised.
Woodyard knocks down another trifecta on the other end.
Paulius Skema fouls out of the game. The Highlanders are still playing with three guys on the floor who have four fouls.
Brooks subs in for Jackson, who gets a standing O after his 13-point effort.
5:33 to go, and walk-on Will Leiner replaces Battle.
A Justin Garris pass goes right between the legs of Teddy Schickel. I'll keep em coming...
4:09 to go, timeout on the floor,
PSU 70, NJIT 40
***
Another side of the backboard shot by NJIT, its second of the half to go with five airballs in the first half.
Woodyward with a three on the other end to put the Lions up 30. Garris answers with a jimmy to break the scoring drought for the Highlanders.
Timeout on the floor with 7:51 to go.
If it says anything about this program, the NJIT pregame media notes feature a section titled "Answers to questions we wish people didn't have to ask," showing a list of lows from the past season. My favorite? Too many to choose, but I guess I'll go with the one saying the Highlanders haven't won a game since Feb. 19, 2007. Ouch.
PSU 64, NJIT 36
***
D.J. Jackson replaces a frustrated Andrew Jones after he picks up his fourth foul.
Battle drills his fourth three of the game, this one with a hand in his face, off an inbounds underneath the basket.
And with that, Zombie Nation begins, lifting about 10 fans (all of whom are in the front row) to their feet.
Out of the timeout, Jackson gets fouled, lays it in (Albert again...) andddd it countsss! He knocks down the free throw to give the Lions a 58-34 lead.
Morrissey forces a jump-ball on the next possession, as Battle chest bumps him in a show of emotion. The Lions work the shot clock down on the ensuing possession, which ends with a three in the corner by the man who started it all, Morrissey.
14-0 run by the Lions. NJIT hasn't hit a field goal since the 14:58 mark.
NJIT timeout with 9:22 left,
PSU 61, NJIT 34
***
Pringle pulls up from the foul line with a man to beat on a fast break and knocks it down.
Garris is back in despite three fouls.
I know this doesn't count as an airball, but Teddy Schickel just hit the upper corner of the backboard while attempting a 3 right in front of Nittany Nation. Ladies and gentlemen, your new and improved 2008-09 NJIT Highlanders!
Cornley with the baby hook (cue Marv Albert voice) andddd the foullll. These refs really are calling a tight one here, slowing the game down. Cornley knocks the free throw down to give the Lions a 16-point lead, their largest of the game.
And with that, Jeff Brooks picks up his fourth foul in his debut. Freshman Cammeron Woodyard spares him. Where's Chris Babb?
Three fouls in the last 34 seconds. That's less than a potential full possession, folks.
The Highlanders have three players on the brink of fouling out, with 4 each.
Break in the action, 11:41 to go,
PSU 52, NJIT 34
***
Penn State men's soccer team assistant coach Ryan Defibaugh spotted front row behind the Penn State basket. Just finished covering those guys, gotta show em some love.
Battle drills a 3 from the same spot as Pringle to make it a 14-point game with 17:40 to go.
Gary Garris takes a seat with 16:18 to go, let's see if the Nittany Lions can break this thing open with him on the bench.
Time out on the floor with 15:41 to go,
PSU 45, NJIT 32
***
Hey folks, Fortuna here to carry ya the rest of the way. Hopefully this half will be much more entertaining than the first one.
After each team's leader, Talor Battle and Gary Garris, exchange buckets to open the half, Battle finds Pringle right in front of the Penn State bench for a wide open 3.
18:14 to go,
PSU 42, NJIT 31
***
Here's some halftime stats.
NJIT PSU
Field goals 8-24 33.3% 12-24 50.0%
3-point FGs 5-11 45.5% 6-13 46.2%
Free throws 8-9 88.9% 7-11 63.6%
Reb (O-D) 11 (1-10) 17 (3-14)
Turnovers 10 11
Last FG 1st-00:32 1st-01:12
Large lead 1 (1st-18:16) 12 (1st-07:47
Before I turn it over to Fortuna for the second half, I'll give you 2 of the 6 cents I have on me.
The refs are clearly calling a tight one. DeChellis has to hammer that home in the locker room. Cornley has just two points, and has taken just three shots. More glaring, however, is the goose egg Cornley has in the rebounding column. The Lions are getting some pretty balanced scoring, though. Unfortunately, the balance has only given them an eight point team against a (Let's be honest) pretty bad team.
One would think Penn State needs to go back to its full court press to try and get off to a quick start to gain some confidence, but the amount of fouls being handed out, Eddie D may not force the issue.
***
Teddy Schickel drills a three. Lions hold for the final shot.
Halftime
PSU 37, NJIT 29
***
Lyn drops a three. This one ref is real animated calling fouls. 20 total fouls between the two.
Morrissey now has nine points. Brooks' flat out runs over Wilson. Pringle weaves in and out and lays it in.
NJIT Air Ball Count: 5
50.7 seconds left 1st half
PSU 37, NJIT 26
***
10 people in wheel chair are lined up just off the court.
Surely, and don't call me Surely, we got a 5-on-5 halftime show on our hands.
Those two free throws were good, F.Y.I. Lions lead down to five. OK, 3:14 to play first half, and more fouls!!!
Battle on the line. Uno, Dos.
3:14 left 1st half
PSU 30, NJIT 23
***
The ref initially indicated charge. The pointed at Jones, for the blocking foul. Groans from the crowd ensue. Timeout on the floor. Two more Highlander foul shots on the flip side.
The Lions haven't made a field goal since the 8:37 mark and are pointless since 7:47
3:43 left 1st half
PSU 28, NJIT 21
***
NJIT Air Ball Count: 4
Everybody's shouting instructions on the court. How is anybody supposed to know what's going on?
What a surprise, more fouls. I see him mouth "my bad." ... This Skema must be a Lithuanian prodigy from the charity stripe. Two more for Skema.
Another foul on the Lions, the ninth for the Lions.
Here's Gary bro Justin on the line. Makes good on both.
4:45 left 1st half
PSU 28, NJIT 21
***
They're handing out free 6-inch subs from Subway. I guess that's because they served us the usual fan-favorite Papa John's pizza in the media room before the game.
All right, here's Jones' throwing the ball for free.
Miss. Make. Got it? Good.
Gary Garris sits for a breather. Let's see if NJIT's point sit still with him.
Here's Paulius at the line. 50 percent on that trip.
Pringle thought about a 35 footer. Steps inside the arc, and rattles it in and out.
NJIT Air Ball Count: 3
***
Back-to-back Morrissey three's extend the lead to 11.
Jones going to back to the line. But first, a stoppage of time.
7:47 left 1st half
PSU 27, NJIT 16
***
Lithuania's own Paulius Skema made a feeble attempt at a right jump hook.
For Penn State to be only up five halfway through the first half says something about this NJIT team. Those jerseys could be distracting.
Cammeron Woodyard in for Battle.
8:53 left 1st half
PSU 24, NJIT 16
***
There's absolutely no energy in the building. Even the Lionettes leave the crowd seated with blank faces.
Cornley missed the first dunk attempt of the season for Penn State. Brooks' walks with the ball after gathering the miss. Take the bus next time, Jeff.
***
Brendon Lyn just made the ugliest shot I've ever seen. He wiggled his body to distract the defender then clanked the ball off the back iron and it dropped.
11:49 left 1st half
PSU 21, NJIT 16
***
Cornley called for a hand check. Nine fouls between the two in the first five minutes. And, NJIT just shot an air ball in front of thousands of people ... how embarassing!
Battle back-to-back three balls on Lion possessions.
Cornley jawwing toward Battle to set up the offense instead of swinging it to Danny Morrissey in the corner for a wide open three.
Jeff Brooks sighting! Gets a sweet assist to Jackson, who completes the three point play.
12:51 left 1st half
PSU 21, NJIT 14
***
Jones botches two at the line. Dan Stonkus commits a foul. Worst last name, ever.
Timeout on the floor
15:58 left 1st half
PSU 12, NJIT 12
***
Jheryl Wilson buries a three ball to give the Highlanders another lead.
Andrew Jones shooting free throws in a silent gym appears to help him made them. He drains both to put the Lions up 10-9.
NJIT now has more points than they did the entire first half against Manhattan.
16:27 left 1st half
PSU 12, NJIT 12
***
Lions pressing after every basket it looks like. And, NJIT is on the scoreboard by (who else) Gary Garris.
NJIT leads!!!!
... For about 6 seconds. Stanley Pringle buries a three. Timeout NJIT
17:55 left 1st Half
PSU 8, NJIT 6
***
NJIT messed up the tip-off. The won the tip, but tipped it to himself. Penn State ball. First possession. Jackson fouled, three point play.
15 seconds in NJIT has two turnovers. Lions force a Highlander out of bounds on a full court press after the Jackson free throw.
***
NJIT has pretty sweet uni's. Bright red.
Without further adieu, the starting lineups for tonight's basketball game.
Penn State
12 G Talor Battle So.
11 G Stanley Pringle Sr.
15 F D.J. Jackson So.
22 C Andrew Jones So.
2 F Jamelle Cornley Sr.
NJIT
13 G Jheryl Wilson So.
15 Gary Garris Jr.
00 C Dan Stonkus Jr.
21 G Justin Garris So.
12 G Brendon Lyn So.
***
Under 10 minutes to tip-off, and I could probably hand count the exact attendance number. Last year the Highlanders increased their point total by 19 from game one to game two. I guess that means scoring more than 51 points should put a dub-ya in the Lions' win column.
***
Penn State basically needs to guard anyone named Garris and that's it. In the Highlanders' season-opening loss to Manhattan, the Garris brothers scored 28 of the Highlanders' 32 points ... in the entire game.
Gary Garris, (hope his middle name isn't Garrison) leads the team in scoring, averaging 17 ppg.
***
NJIT comes in with a 34-game losing streak, "tied" for the longest losing streak in NCAA history. Technically, the Highlanders get a free pass from complete college basketball futility because NJIT is a program reclassifying to Division I from Division II. All records good and bad (so, bad), will start counting in 2009-10.
NJIT started playing a Division I schedule two years ago. I know, I didn't think it took five years to reclassify, either.
***
Hey ya'll, it's Mink coming to you from press row about 20 minutes before Penn State's contest with NJIT. Right now, we're enjoying Lil' Wayne's "Got Money" over the sound system ... with every other word being edited out for the over 65 spectators. Hope you liked that Talladega Nights lead-in to take you to the game. Unfortunately, NJIT is probably the worst team ever made.
Comments
The first regular season AP top 25 was released earlier today, and there was some adjustment.
With then-No. 2 Stanford and then-No. 3 Maryland losing, the top five now looks like this:
1. Connecticut (all 45 first place votes)
2. Oklahoma
3. Rutgers
4. North Carolina
5. Tennessee
The Cardinal and Terrapins fell to Nos. 8 and 11, respectively.
Baylor received the biggest jump for teams ranked in the preseason. The Lady Bears moved to No. 10 from No. 19. Interestingly, Baylor is two spots behind Stanford, the team the Lady Bears beat yesterday by 16 points.
Maryland remains ahead of No. 24 TCU, which entered the poll. The Lady Frogs upset the Terrapins this past weekend.
Ohio State and Purdue each moved up in the poll, with the Buckeyes going up to No. 17 and the Boilermakers to No. 21.
LSU dropped out of the poll. Amazingly, the Lady Tigers have reached the Final Four the past five years.
Penn State still has no votes in the poll. It will be interesting to see if victories against Stony Brook and Prairie View A&M (if the wins happen) give them some votes before the rough portion of the schedule begins next week.
Below is the newly-released AP rankings following the first week of games played.
Rank-Team-(First place votes)- Record-Total votes
1. North Carolina (72) 1-0 1,800
2. Connecticut 1-0 1,674
3. Louisville 0-0 1,635
4. UCLA 2-0 1,475
5. Michigan State 1-0 1,362
6. Pittsburgh 1-0 1,355
7. Texas 1-0 1,304
8. Notre Dame 1-0 1,243
9. Gonzaga 1-0 1,185
10. Duke 3-0 1,176
11. Purdue 1-0 1,116
12. Oklahoma 1-0 1,028
13. Memphis 1-0 968
14. Tennessee 1-0 941
15. Arizona State 1-0 653
15. Marquette 1-0 653
17. Miami (FL) 1-0 591
18. Florida 2-0 460
19. USC 1-0 398
20. Wake Forest 1-0 349
21. Davidson 1-0 339
22. Georgetown 0-0 265
23. Villanova 1-0 261
24. Kansas 1-0 207
25. Wisconsin 1-0 187
Others Receiving Votes
Baylor 125, UNLV 116, Saint Mary's 108, Xavier 102, Syracuse 97, Ohio State 49, Clemson 33, Texas A&M 32, LSU 23, Brigham Young 17, Washington State 13, West Virginia 10, Virginia Commonwealth 8, Virginia Tech 8, Siena 7, Vanderbilt 6, Rhode Island 5, Alabama 3, Mercer 3, Creighton 2, UAB 2, Southern Illinois 1, Holy Cross 1, Arizona 1, Cal State Northridge 1, Washington 1, Virginia Military 1.
Interestingly enough, North Carolina was not a unanimous No. 1 choice in the ESPN/USA Today poll, as Connecticut received a first-place vote.
Also worth noting is that Duke is ranked No. 5 in the AP, but No. 10 in the ESPN/USA Today poll following its close call with Rhode Island (a future PSU opponent, by the way) last night.
With the first batch of season games completed, it's time to take a look at how the Big Ten fared.
Conference teams were 12-3 overall, with one of the losses coming with Minnesota's 13-point setback, 68-55, at No. 2 Stanford, last year's runner-up. The Gophers hung with the Cardinal throughout and look like a tough out. The only negative is Stanford proved to be ranked a little too highly with its 16-point loss to No. 19 Baylor on Sunday.
One of the other losses was by Indiana to No. 22 Xavier at home, 62-59. The Hoosiers had a 6-point halftime lead, but 11 3-pointers by Xavier and just 35.7 percent shooting doomed Indiana.
The only real damaging loss was by Northwestern to Chicago State. Despite Amy Jaeschke's double-double, the Wildcats lost to the Lady Cougars, an Independent, 76-69.
As for the ranked teams, No. 18 Ohio State routed both Butler and Army. Jantel Lavender combined for 48 points in the two victories. The two games serve as tune-ups for the Buckeyes, who will play five straight teams which reached the NCAA tournament last year, including No. 6 North Carolina and No. 20 Auburn.
No. 23 Purdue opened up with a 36-point win against IUPUI. The Boilermakers went up by as much as 43 in the game as they shot almost 45 percent and made 22 free throws.
This week, the Big Ten has a few chances to make statements as Northwestern plays tournament regular Kansas State and Michigan plays No. 11 Texas A&M and No. 12 Vanderbilt.
Around the nation, there was one huge head-turner. No. 3 Maryland was defeated by unranked TCU. Although the Lady Frogs are a power in the Mountain West Conference, Terrapins coach Brenda Frese can't be happy with her defense, which allowed TCU to make 10 3s and shoot 44 percent. While TCU didn't have any votes in the preseason poll, it will be interesting to see how close it gets to getting ranked this week,
Finally, check back early this week for the new AP top 25. It will be interesting to see if Penn State's strong defensive performance catches a few eyes. Last year, the Lady Lions mustered 53 votes to move to 29th in the first regular season poll. The position was the closest Penn State got to being ranked.
The first weekend of college basketball is in the books, and Penn State opened with a solid 14-win against William & Mary on Friday. The Tribe followed up Friday's game with a 74-55 loss at Ohio.
With Penn State gunning for some kind of posteason bid, strength of schedule will be important. There are not a lot of marquee names on the Nittany Lions' non-conference slate, so how the mid-majors perform could be important. Here are the results of Penn State's opponents:
Non-Conference Opponents
-NJIT lost to Manhattan 56-32
-Hartford lost to Qunnipiac 63-62
-New Hampshire beat Suffolk University 101-50
-Penn lost to North Carolina 86-71
-Rhode Island lost to Duke 82-79
-Georgia Tech beat Winston-Salem 92-47
-Temple beat East Tennessee State 79-65, beat College of Charleston 70-65 and lost to Clemson 76-72 in the Charleston Classic
-Army beat Dartmouth 63-48
--Mount St. Mary's beat Loyola (Md.) 84-76
-Lafayette beat Wagner 73-67
-Sacred Heart lost to Holy Cross 67-58
Around the Big Ten
-Northwestern beat Central Arkansas 81-39
-Wisconsin beat Long Beach State 68-61
-Purdue beat Detroit 82-50
-Minnesota beat Concordia-St. Paul 76-51, beat Bowling Green 68-61, beat Georgia State 60-52 in the NABC Classic
-Illinois beat Eastern Washington 66-50, beat Texas A&M Corpus Christi 72-53
-Ohio State will open its season Thursday against Delaware State
Non-Conference Opponents' Record: 7-8
Big Ten Opponents' Record: 13-0
Total Opponents' Record: 20-8
While Big Ten teams were perfect, the competition was not very strong to open the season. Wisconsin received the biggest scare and struggled with Long Beach State, while Minnesota had sloppy second halves in games against Bowling Green and Georgia State.
The most impressive non-conference opponent was probably a team that lost. Penn State will play Rhode Island in the first round of Philly Hoop Group Classic at the Palesta on Nov. 28. The Rams nearly knocked off No. 5 Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium today, as they held a one-point lead at halftime before falling by just three points. Guard Jimmy Baron and forward Delroy James each scored in the 20s. The Rams should pose a very interesting matchup the day after Thanksgiving. A Penn State win will likely set up a tournament championship battle with Villanova that Saturday.
You're looking LIVE at the Bryce Jordan Center! I'm Dan Rorabaugh, you're friendly neighborhood Lady Lions reporter blogging the Penn State season opener against Dawn Staley's South Carolina Gamecocks. The big issue in today's game will be how the Lady Lions contain South Carolina forward Demetress Adams, who stands at 6-foot-4 and received second-team All-SEC honors last year. It'll be up to Penn State forwards Julia Trogele and Janessa Wolff to limit Adams' touches and hopefully keep her in foul trouble.
Here are today's starting line-ups:
Penn State: F Julia Trogele, F Evelyn Lewis, G Tyra Grant, G Brianne O'Rourke, G Mashea Williams
South Carolina: F Demetress Adams, F Jewel May, G Lauren Falohun, G Lakeisha Sutton, G Brionna Dickerson
PSU 3, South Carolina 3 -- 15:47 remaining
South Carolina starts by utilizing Adams' size. Adams gets four quick points, one off a rebound. Trogele gets two fouls in the first minute, bringing in Wolff off the bench. The defensive intensity picked up after that, highlighted by a pair of charges taken by Tyra Grant, but a couple of missed lay-ups have kept Penn State from taking the lead. O'Rourke has been doing a good job in penetrating the lane.
PSU 9, South Carolina 6 -- 11:52 in 1st half
The Lions have been driving to the rim and drawing fouls, and a 3-pointer by O'Rourke gave them their first lead of the game. Meredith Monroe came in to keep the post players fresh. It's been a pretty intense defensive game so far, with Grant drawing a third charge. O'Rouke has been the Lions' offense so far, taking it to the hole and gathering five points early on. Both Trogele and Wolff have two fouls, however.
PSU 13, South Carolina 11 -- 8:02 in 1st half
A lot of back-and-forth transition offense concludes in three straight put-back attempts by the Lions, leading to Mashea Williams finding an open Evelyn Lewis on the other side of the lane. Penn State's defense continues to make things difficult for the Gamecocks, going at the ball and not giving them any open looks. A couple of missed lay-ins have prevented the Lions from taking an even more commanding lead, but the cutting lanes are open and South Carolina's in foul trouble. A five-point run before a timeout brings the Gamecocks back into it, though.
PSU 13, South Carolina 11 -- 7:10 in 1st half
Penn State has missed a lot of jumpers recently, but its defense is looking solid. Wolff did a great job of guarding the rim against Sada Wheeler, forcing the center to loft a shot that hit the far side of the backboard. Adams picked up her first foul before a timeout.
PSU 22, South Carolina 11 -- 3:32 in 1st half
Trogele returns to the floor, but the Gamecocks are starting to pick up the intensity. Grant got knocked around trying to get by a screen, and Wheeler and Adams are gathering more boards. South Carolina is definitely trying to feed the post, and they're becoming more successful with time. Grant and O'Rourke hit long jumpers on consecutive possessions, giving Penn State its 11-point lead. Penn State's pestering defense is getting the team hyped up as Meggan Quinn got up and yelled on the bench while Mashea Williams stayed tight on a driving guard. Janessa Wolff is starting to be a real presence in the post, but she drew her third foul just before a timeout.
PSU 24, South Carolina 12 -- 3:08 in 1st half
Evelyn Lewis is doing a good job down low, taking it to the hoop for her 6th point. Staley called a timeout immediately following the bucket.
PSU 25, South Carolina 15 -- end of 1st half
Freshman Renee Womack is getting into the defensive action, smothering Brionna Dickerson and nearly forcing a turnover. O'Rourke follows suit, almost creating a breakaway opportunity. In both cases, the Gamecocks ended up forcing a shot with the shot clock expiring. The Lions are having issues holding onto the ball off of rebounds, as one bounced right off Grant's hands to Adams. C.J. Pace knocked down a three with about two seconds remaining to draw the first half to a close.
PSU 27, South Carolina 21 -- 16:00 in 2nd half
The second half started sloppy, with errant passes leading to two straight South Carolina breakaway lay-ups. Trogele came back in at the start of the half and blocked two shots. South Carolina looks to be reestablishing its post game.
PSU 31, South Carolina 21 -- 13:12 in 2nd half
Some good and bad passes to Wolff lead to a nice lay-in and a turnover, respectedly. Turnovers are everywhere early on, and the refs had a discussion regarding possession after Penn State initially stole the ball. Trogele takes it from the top of the key for a lay-up. Penn State's forwards haven't scored much this game aside from Evelyn Lewis' seven. South Carolina has had a lot of ball-handling turnovers such as traveling and double dribbling early in the half.
PSU 33, South Carolina 21 -- 11:52 in 2nd half
O'Rourke starts off with an airballed three from the men's 3-point arc. Wolff fought off Jewel May for a tough basket and foul. Penn State has been keeping the ball outside of the paint all day, forcing South Carolina to shoot threes and long jumpers. The Lions still have no fouls this half, while the Gamecocks have five.
PSU 38, South Carolina 27 -- 7:52 in 2nd half
O'Rourke starts things off again with a sweet inbounds pass to Wolff, then starts a fast break by feeding a streaking Tyra Grant, who gets fouled and goes to the line. Evelyn Lewis steps in front of a pass to the paint to start another fast break, ending in a Grant lay-in. Lewis picks up her fourth foul, though, and has to go to the bench. South Carolina keeps trying to work the outsides and feed it into the post, but the Lion defense is doubling down. Dawn Staley looks frustrated on the sideline.
PSU 47, South Carolina 27 -- 5:20 in 2nd half
Grant misses a pass on a 3-on-2 break and climbs the hoop support to stop herself from diving into the stands. South Carolina is trying to heave up threes to stay in the game. A nice rebound by Mashea Williams and good court vision leads to a Grant three-pointer, giving Grant 15 points on the game. Grant scores again on a breakaway feed from Williams.
PSU 49, South Carolina 30 -- 3:39 in 2nd half
Trogele finally picks up her third foul after getting two in the game's first minute. South Carolina starts to press but O'Rourke breaks it, passing ahead to Womack who finds Williams underneath for an easy two. O'Rourke is called for traveling and looks frustrated with the turnover, even with a 19-point lead.
PSU 49, South Carolina 37 -- 1:17 in 2nd half
Wolff keeps up the intensity on the inside with a pair of challenged shots. South Carolina's press is still getting broken, and the Lions haven't slowed down. The Gamecocks go on a five-point run before Coquese Washington calls timeout.
PSU 51, South Carolina 40 -- 38.8 seconds in 2nd half
Trogele hits a jumper from the top of the key with the shot clock winding down. C.J. Pace knocks down a three and it looks like Dawn Staley is still going to try and pull this one out, as she takes a timeout.
PSU 56, South Carolina 42 -- end of 2nd half
A Meggan Quinn entry pass nearly gets batted away but Trogele is there to scoop it up. Trogele ends the possession with a three-point play. Womack gets a lay-up at the buzzer.
Overall, it was an impressive game for the Lions with a pestering defense. Demetress Adams was taken out of the game early, amassing only seven points and getting four fouls, most in the second. Tyra Grant led the Penn State offense with 17 points. The post defense was good, led by Wolff's smothering presence.
Comments
Welcome back to Between the Pipes for the final game of the series between the No. 3 Penn State Icers and the Navy Midshipmen. Coming off a 7-2 win last night, the Icers are now 3-0 against the Midshipmen this season.
This is the Icers final tune-up before next weekend's much-anticipated showdown with the No. 10 Rhode Island Rams.
Moving the focus back to tonight's game, Teddy Hume will start in net again tonight for the Icers. This will be Hume's third straight start and seventh appearance overall this season. With last night's win, the sophomore is now sporting a perfect 5-0-0 record this season and a record of 14-1-1 for his career.
We're just under 10 minutes away from faceoff, stick around.
1st Period
Puck is dropped and this one is underway.
Penn State, very similar to last night, is putting pressure on early. Three quick shots on net were all turned away by Jameson Marshall, who is getting the start in net tonight for Navy.
Marshall took over for Jeremey Estevez with 8:23 left in the first period last night after the Icers jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead. He played pretty well in relief, holding the Icers scoreless for the rest of the period and all of the second. Penn State finally seemed to figure him out a little bit, scoring three third period goals, but it was still an overall solid performance turned in by Marshall -- 27 saves on 30 shots after the starter Estevez had just five save on nine shots.
Early penalty on Navy will put the Icers on the power play.
And they waste no time taking advantage of it. Penn State goal by Matt Kirstein, his eighth of the season.
That was a lot like Penn State's lone power play goal last night. Despite the Icers going just one for four on the power play, the one goal they did score came just 10 seconds after the power play started. This one came only 18 seconds into the first power play opportunity of the night. Icers lead 1-0.
According to FightOnState.com's Steve Penstone, attendance is a lot lower tonight than last night. I'm sure the football game down there today has something to do with it. For those of you who don't know, the Midshipmen were at home today against Notre Dame, with the Irish coming out on top 27-21 after almost blowing a 27-7 lead with two minutes left. I'd comment more on that game, but growing up a ND fan (I know I know, sorry) it would probably be slightly biased.
Oh yeah, back to the hockey game, Penn State continues to control much of the action, but not getting too many scoring chances as Navy is just clearing it out of the zone as Penn State continues to bring it in.
And this time they're called for icing. Just over 10 minutes left in the opening period, faceoff in the Navy zone.
Nothing comes of that and after Penn State comes up with the puck in its own zone, Brent Tranter cleared it away and Penn State was called for icing. Action slowing down to almost a stand still with the back-to-back icings.
Another icing call, this one on Navy. Icings tonight are like penalties last night -- seemingly non-stop.
Cera just had his stick chopped in half by a Navy defender. That may make things slightly more difficult for him for the time being.
Cleared out, but Penn State brings it back in and establishes the offense in the Navy zone. But Navy is content just to clear it out again.
Penn State goal! Senior Andrew Magulick's first of the season puts the Icers ahead 2-0.
Not much offensively from Navy so far tonight. The majority of the first period has involved Penn State bringing it in the Navy zone, Navy clearing it out, Penn State chasing it down, bringing it back in the zone. Repeat.
Navy called for a high-sticking penalty and Penn State will go on the power play. On the only other power play opportunity of the night, the Icers scored just 18 seconds into the Navy penalty.
I was just about to say this powerplay is nothing like that first one, but then...the Icers scored. 3-0, Icers.
The reason I was ready to say that was because the Icers didn't even fire a shot in the first minute of the power play, but then when they finally did put on net, it went in.
Shots on goal are 11-4 in favor of Penn State, in a first period that has been much like the opening period in last night's game, in which the Icers outscored Navy 4-0.
Navy should get some relief from all the pressure Penn State has been putting on as they are about to go on a power play. An Icers penalty with 47 seconds left in the period will give the Midshipmen a man-advantage for the final 47 seconds of this period and the first 1:13 of the second.
Navy makes a charge into the zone, but Tranter clears it away and time expires as the puck slides down the ice.
After one the Icers lead it 3-0. We'll be back for the start of the second in just a bit.
2nd Period
Don't forget Navy is on the power play here for the first 1:13 of the period. Play is underway, Navy brings it in, but taken away by Luke DeLorenzo and cleared out.
By the time Navy chases it down and play goes back-and-forth a little, the penalty is over and it's back to full strength.
And now Penn State will go on the power play. Not a good thing for Navy, as the Icers have scored on both of their other power play opportunities tonight.
Penn State has established its power play offense in the zone, moving the puck around, looking for a shot. Put it on net, but Marshall covers up and a face off coming up.
The Icers win the draw, but can't keep it in. They bring it back in and fire a shot, but Marshall stops and holds it for another faceoff.
Well, Penn State's power play is unsuccessful for the first time in three tries tonight.
And now its penalty kill unit will take the ice following a Penn State penalty. These guys might have more ice time than anyone this weekend. There was a lot of penalties called last night. And I mean, like, a lot.
The Icers continue to handle the penalties well, killing off another Navy power play attempt.
Just over 10 minutes left in the second, no score yet in the second, Icers still lead 3-0.
Both teams getting some shots now with end-to-end action, but nothing to show for it either way.
Two centering passes are unsuccessful for the Icers and Navy brings it right down and get a couple shots on Hume, but he turns them away.
Back the other way, Chris Cerutti fires a shot that's turned away by Marshall. Back-and-forth they continue to go, much different from the first period and even the earlier part of this period. Six minutes to go in the second.
This game has been pretty similar to last night's in terms of Penn State scoring. After four first-period goals last night, the Icers were hold scoreless in the second. Tonight, three goals in the first, none so far here in the second.
They've reached the three-minute mark here in the second, still 3-0, Icers.
Navy brought it in and a centering pass nearly resulted in the first Midshipmen goal of the night, but Hume turned it away. He hasn't been tested much so far tonight, but he's been solid the few times that he has, keeping the shutout intact.
Another save by Hume. Gave up the rebound, but the Icers cleared it away from the commotion in front.
There was probably a lot more action in that period than the first, but no goals come out of it. Both teams had some chances and went back-and-forth quite a bit, but the two goalies stepped up and kept the puck out of the net.
After two, Icers still lead 3-0.
One period to go, we'll be back for the start of the third after the intermission.
3rd Period
And here we go, Penn State is now less than 20 minutes away from posting a perfect 4-0 record against the Midshipmen in the regular season this year.
Navy controlling the action here to start the third, much like it did near the end of the second, putting a few shots on Hume, but still no goals.
That might come to an end now, though, as Navy picks up a penalty, putting the Icers on another power play.
And sure enough, it does. Third power-play goal of the night for the Icers, this one from Brandon Rubeo. Icers lead 4-0.
Icers penalty and Navy will have a PP opportunity now.
Breakaway opportunity for DeLorenzo, but his shot attempt slides wide of the net.
Another shot for Penn State, they've put more shots on goal than the Midshipmen during this Navy power play.
Back to full strength now, not a good power play for Navy at all.
And now it's going to be the other way around. A Navy penalty will give the Icers their sixth power play of the night. They've converted three of the first five for goals.
After killing off that penalty, the Midshipmen will go on another power play as the teams continue to alternate penalties.
Not much time has been spent at full strength this weekend.
Midway point here in the third, 10 minutes left.
Jaime Zimmel clears it down the ice, as the Icers look to kill off yet another Navy power play.
Back to full strength.
Seven minutes left. The last two periods have been nothing like the first. After dominating the open period of play, Penn State has struggled to establish any regular pressure on the Midshipmen.
Five-minute major penalty against Navy after a hit from behind on Craig Brooks. That should just about do it for this one. The Icers will be on the power play for five of the last six minutes of play, and they've dominated anytime they've had the man advantage tonight.
It'd be surprising if Navy could just hold Penn State scoreless over these five minutes, let
alone score four unanswered goals.
And as if that wasn't enough, Charlie Daniel (had to get his name in here at least once tonight) picks up a penalty, giving the Icers a 5-on-3 advantage now with just over four minutes left in regulation.
Both penalties winding down now. One minute left in the major, 30 seconds in the two-minute minor. The puck has been in the Navy zone for most of the power play, but no goals yet.
Daniel out of the box, but the Icers get their fourth power play goal of the night soon after. 5-0, Icers. Only about 20 seconds left in the major penalty now.
The penalty is over and it's back to full strength. It's interesting to think about what this game might have been like without all the power play chances. Penn State got four of its five goals on the power play, with Magulick scoring the only even strength goal. Shots on goal are surprisingly close: Penn State 29, Navy 26. So not nearly as one-sided of a game as last night in terms of shots on goal or time on attack, but it was the one place that actually matters with the Icers winning 5-0.
Game over. Icers win.
Hume picks up the shutout, stopping all 26 Navy shots, and imrpoves to 6-0 on the season after picking up two road wins this weekend in Annapolis.
It's still pretty early on a Saturday night, so I'm outta here for now. Be sure to check Monday's Collegian for full coverage of this weekend's games and, of course, right back here on Between the Pipes as we keep you updated on everything Icers and the ACHA.
Well Icers fans, welcome to Between the Pipes. For a lot of you, this will be your way of keeping up to date on the Icers as they spend the next few weeks on the road.
After playing two games this weekend in Annapolis vs. Navy, the Icers will be in Rhode Island next week for a two-game showdown with the No. 10 Rams. Then, after a weekend off for the Thanksgiving holiday, they have a home-and-home series the first weekend in December against No. 8 West Chester.
As always, it should be interesting to see who's in net tonight and tomorrow for the Icers. At this point, I'm ready to turn the page on calling this a "goalie competition," and just say they have a goalie rotation.
Coach Balboni has said all along he would go with whoever had the "hot hand" at the time, but he also said he would like to have one guy take the job and run with it. Just when it seemed like Nick Signet might have done just that, he had a bit of an off night against Drexel last weekend, and Teddy Hume picked up the 'W' in net the following night.
Just about five minutes until the opening faceoff now. Stay tuned.
Quick note before we get started, for those of you who missed, or just don't remember, the first two games between these teams back on Oct. 24 and 25, the Icers won both rather easily. After a 7-1 victory the first night, the Icers came out and followed it up with a 6-1 win Saturday.
1st Period
We're underway. And the answer to the goalie question is one Teddy Hume.
Just moments into the game, penalty No. 1 already for the Icers. Frank Berry called for hooking just 56 seconds in and Navy goes on the power play.
Two minutes have ticked off the clock and no damage done. Navy spent the majority of the PP chasing the puck back into their own zone and trying to bring it in and set up the power play to no avail. Full strength. 16:37 left.
Goal! Matt Kirstein puts the Icers on the board early. Nick Seravelli found Kirstein in front for Kirstein's sixth goal of the season. Icers lead 1-0.
A scoring chance for Navy's Charlie Daniel is denied by Hume. I'm not even too sure it was that great of a chance, but it seemed like a good enough reason to mention Daniel's name. We noticed it a couple weeks ago when Navy was playing at Penn State, and one must wonder if there is a better name in college hockey.
Anyways, back to hockey action, the Icers are putting some pressure on Navy right now, but the Midshipmen are holding strong to keep it a one-goal game.
Not anymore, though. Goal No. 2 for the Icers, this time scored by Tim O'Brien. Ryan Paradis found O'Brien in front for the goal to put the Icers ahead 2-0.
The first two goals scored in pretty similar fashion with a pass from behind the net to someone sitting on the doorstep to put it home.
Rubeo and Berry working the same play that gave the Icers their first two goals, but it's denied this time. No question as to who's in control so far, it's been all Penn State. A couple shots by Navy have tested Hume, but Navy hasn't established anything in the Icers zone or applied any pressure the way Penn State has.
3-0.. Chris Cerutti slips one past Navy goalie Jeremey Estevez for his sixth of the season.
Navy penalty and the Icers will have their first power play opportunity of the night with 8 minutes, 27 seconds remaining in the period.
And that didn't take long. 10 seconds after the penalty, the Icers capitalize with their fourth goal of the night. Jaime Zimmel gives the Icers a 4-0 lead.
And that's going to be it for Estevez. Navy makes a goalie change replacing Estevez with Jameson Marshall.
Icers penalty will give Navy its second power play of the night. The first one was rather uneventful with the Midshipmen unable to establish anything in the Icer zone.
Much of the same so far, Icers clearing, Navy chasing.
Back to full strength, still 4-0 in favor of Penn State. Shots on goal, surprisingly, are only 9-5. Penn State's shooting percentage is almost as high as Shaq' free-throw percentage. I don't know if that's more impressive for the Icers or embarassing for Shaq. And I'm not taking any shots at O'Neal, I'm a Suns fan, so he's fair game now.
Sidetracked again, but back to hockey, we're in the final few minutes of the opening period and the puck continues to call Navy's zone home.
Two-minute mark of the first, Icers carry it in the zone, Thurston fires one on net, deflected wide by Marshall. Cleared away, but the Icers chase it down and bring it right back in. That's about all Navy can do right now, is clear it out of its own zone and take a couple seconds to reset and catch their breath.
Icers penalty on Thurston now. Power play No. 3 for Navy coming up.
And with 20.7 seconds left in the first, the Icers pick up another penalty giving the Midshipmen a 5-on-3 advantage.
Buzzer sounds and the first period comes to a close. Strong showing by the Icers in the opening period, as the team was firing on all cylinders. Capitalizing on the PP and successfully killing off a few penalties of their own.
For those fans looking for something to do in the intermission, you may want to check out Hardwood Hits on the Collegian website, as the men's basketball writers take you through the Nittany Lions' season opening game against William & Mary. Penn State is up 52-40 with just under 7 minutes left in that one.
We'll be back for the start of the second period. Icers lead 4-0 after one.
2nd Period
Period No. 2 is underway. Keep in mind the Midshipmen are starting the period with a 5-on-3 advantage. And they take advantage.
Hume gives up a rebound and, guess who is there to put it home? Charlie Daniel! Navy is on the board just 38 seconds into the period. 4-1, Icers.
Just before it was back to full strength, Navy picks up a penalty of its own and it'll be 4-on-4 for the next 11 seconds before Penn State has a shortened power play.
Brooks is out of the box for Penn State and the Icers are on the PP.
Penn State put a couple shots on net, but no goals and it's back to full strength. Shots on goal right now are 17-10 in favor of Penn State. Not quite as one-sided as the score, 4-1.
The Icers continue to dominate in terms of time on attack. The puck has basically become a fixture in the Navy zone, with the exception of an occasional clear down the ice.
Not as much scoring as in the first, but the second period has had no shortage of action. Plenty of shots on goal from both teams, but nothing to show for it since that Navy goal early in the period. Nine minutes left in the period, still 4-1 Icers.
Penalty on Thurston and Navy will have another power play chance. They got their only goal in this game earlier this period on a PP and if they could duplicate that here, we'd have a game on our hands.
Doesn't happen, though. Not much action on that one and it's back to full strength.
Well that didn't last very long, as Craig Brooks goes back to the penalty box, but Navy will not go on the power play. It seems to be a 10-minute misconduct penalty on Brooks, so both teams stay at full strength but Brooks is stuck in that box for the rest of this period and then some.
Navy finally getting some pressure on the Icers, putting a couple shots on net. Coming the other way, the Icers fire right back, but are likewise turned away.
And another penalty for the Icers. Thurston took Charlie Daniel down (not to Georgia, though) away from the puck and picked up the interference penalty. Power play for the Midshipmen.
Just 30 seconds left in the Thurston penalty, no damage yet. As a matter of fact, Navy hasn't even carried the puck into the Icers' zone yet on this PP and now it's over. Back to full strength. 3 minutes left in the second period.
Both goalies are being tested this period, and both are passing so far. Hume gave up the early goal toward the beginning of the period, but has been solid since. And Marshall actually hasn't given up a goal yet tonight since taking over for starting goalie Jeremey Estevez with about eight minutes left in the opening period.
Final minute of play in the period.
7 seconds left in the period. 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. End of two. Despite a barrage of shots, Penn State was unable to score in the second period after putting up four in the first. Navy on the other hand, finally took advantage of one of its many power play opportunities so far in this game and put home a loose rebound after a Teddy Hume save.
After two, Icers lead 4-1. One more period to go, don't leave now.
3rd Period
Teams have taken the ice, puck has been dropped and the last 20 minutes have started to countdown.
Goal! After a little back-and-forth action in the neutral zone, O'Brien carried it in and fired a wrister on net past Jameson Marshall. 5-1, Icers.
That's O'Brien's second of the night and tenth of the season, tying him with Luke DeLorenzo for most on the team.
Brandon Rubeo picks up a penalty, and Navy will have their seventh power play of the night. Although their only goal of the night so far came on the power play, the Midshipmen are just 1-6 on the PP to this point.
Make that 1-7 on the power play, as the Icers kill off another penalty.
Very similar to the first goal, Navy scores after Hume is unable to control a shot and gives up a rebound in front. The Midshipmen took advantage, putting the rebound in the back of the net and narrowing the gap to 5-2.
Quick game update: Score: Icers 5, Navy 2. Shots on goal: 27-17. Exactly 12 minutes left.
Charlie Daniel leads a Navy break, but Hume shuts the door and covers up for a faceoff.
Goal! Zimmel scores his second of the night and the Icers go up 6-2.
Already with a four-goal lead, the Icers are going on the power play after a Navy penalty. 9:06 to go in the third.
Icers wasting no time putting the pressure on the Navy penalty kill with a couple shots, but good defense by Navy keeps the puck out of the net.
The puck has gotten behind Marshall twice already on the power play, but he got some help from one of his defenders the first time and from the crossbar the second time.
After the shot went off the crossbar and was covered up by Marshall, a scrum broke out in front of the net and they are working to sort out any penalties from that right now.
7:18 to go in regulation.
And I'm not neglecting to tell you about any penalties from that scuffle. They are still talking it over and trying to figure it out.
So Daley, O'Brien and Luke DeLorenzo have all left the ice and gone back to the locker room, they likely received 10-minute game misconducts and are done for the night.
Only two Navy players went back to the locker room. Coach Balboni questioning the refs on this one.
Final result, on top of leaving the ice, Daley is getting an additional 5-minute major and that will give Navy an extended power play.
The long delay didn't seem to slow down Kirstein at all, as he comes right out and puts one past Marshall. The short-handed goal gives Penn State a commanding 7-2 lead.
Hooking penalty called on Penn State and Navy will have a 5-on-3 advantage for the next two minutes.
One-timer attempt in front of the net is whiffed on by Navy, but the puck stays in the zone. Net is knocked loose and there'll be a faceoff to the left of Hume.
Icers win the faceoff, clear it away. Icers take it in, shot off the post! Almost another short-handed goal for the Icers.
End-to-end action here, despite the Navy power play. Both teams carrying the puck into the opposing zone and getting off shots.
The penalty has expired, back to full strength with two minutes left.
Last minute of play.
Marek Polidor will go to the box with just 42 seconds left and the Icers will have one more power play opportunity.
Icers with a solid scoring chance, despite being short-handed, but Marshall shuts it down with 11 seconds left. And that's it. Game over.
Final Score: Icers 7, Midshipmen 2.
Same teams, same time tomorrow night. Icers @ Navy, 7:30. We'll be back again to take you through the game live, but that's all for tonight.
And Penn State goes to 1-0 on the season with a 65-51 win over the Tribe. Talor Battle leads all scorers with 21 off 7-13 shooting. More game stats below...
WM PSU
Field goals 20-52 38.5% 23-49 46.9%
3-point FGs 7-25 28.0% 8-20 40.0%
Free throws 4-7 57.1% 11-15 73.3%
Reb (O-D) 27 (9-18) 32 (9-23)
Turnovers 15 13
From the BJC, this is Matt Fortuna signing off. Hope you're with us Monday night when the Lions take on NJIT, which is coming off a winless (seriously) season.
Have a good one, folks.
*****
Peter Stein misses a lay-in, and Battle works the clock before Jones inadvertently steps out of play.
Danny Sumner nails a three and the Tribe use a timeout with 1:13 to go.
Battle is fouled by Schneider on the inbounds, and Schneider receives an earlful from coach Tony Shaver. On the 1-and-1, Battle knocks down both.
Peter Stein lays it in before calling a timeout. The fans are heading for the exits.
59.9 left,
PSU 63, W&M 51
*****
McDowell hits the FT to cut the lead to 10.
Cornley gets tied up at the other end and is forced to burn a timeout with 3:38 remaining.
Out of the timeout, David Jackson drills a 3 in the corner off a Pringle feed, bringing the crowd to their feet and putting the Lions up by 13. Pringle gets down on the floor on a loose ball on the other end, forcing a jump-ball. Possession, Lions.
Andrew Jones with the offensive board and lay-in off a Battle miss. Timeout, W&M, which sparks an underwhelming Zombie Nation on the loudspeakers, if there is such a thing.
2:05 to go,
PSU 61, W&M 46
*****
Morrissey's three attempt off the screen is in and out. Next trip down, he gets called for a charge, his fourth of the game. Back comes Pringle, also with four.
BIG three from Darnell to cut the lead to single digits at 9. This wakes up Nittany Nation as Cornley draws the foul down on the other end. He calmly drains both with 4:50 remaining. Still, the Lions have failed to hit a FG since the 8:04 mark.
After a wild scrum for the ball at W&M's end, Battle draws the foul after diving on the floor. He gets up to chants of "Ta-lor Bat-tle!" from Nittany Nation. Pringle lays it in to finally get the Lions a FG.
McDowell gets the and-1 following a David Jackson foul.
Another break in the action with just 3:53 left.
PSU 56, W&M 45
*****
The Lionettes come out during the break in action and dance to ... Coldplay? Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of Chris Martin and the boys, but I don't think "Viva la Vida" will get this crowd pumped up anytime soon.
Pringle picks up his fourth foul as Morrissey comes in to replace him. Teams even at 4 in that department thus far in the second half.
...anddd David Jackson gets called for a push-off on the other end, rendering that last stat useless.
Dan Schneider with the trifecta on the other end to bring the Tribe within 12.
Cammeron Woodyard with the first points of his Penn State career with a long jumper. Let's see if the Lions' other freshman, Chris Babb, can find the hole later tonight, as well.
Another break with 7:29 to go.
Penn State 52, William & Mary 38
*****
Hey folks, Matt Fortuna here to take you through the second half.
And of course, the obligatory "Kiss Cam" appears while the Blue Band plays "Hey Baby." Just a few senior citizens get shown before a pair of students, who seemingly don't know each other, are shown and make it clear they won't go near each other. Oh well.
Back to the action now (get your minds outta the gutter, kids), where Cornley gets fouled on a baby hook in the paint. He makes the second after bricking the first. Just six attempts from the charity stripe from the Lions thus far.
On the other end, Morrissey gets called for a cheap reach, his third of the game, which brings DeChellis to his feet. Quinn McDowell lays it in to cut the lead to 13.
The Lions are slow to switch and McCurdy makes them pay, finding Steven Hess.
On the Tribe's next trip down the floor, Battle comes up with the steal and blows rightttt by Chris Darnell for the lay-in.
Time out on the floor, 10:37 remaining.
Penn State 50, William & Mary 35
*****
PSU opens the second half with a steal but Pringle comes up empty on a lay up on the other end. The starting lineup is back on the floor for the Lions.
Pringle connects on a jump shot to put PSU up 37-24.
The Tribe misses a three but somehow the rebound is tipped by multiple players and ends up in the basket. That play pretty much defined "fluke."
Battle misses a three attempt but PSU gets the offensive rebound. Cornley hits a nice fade-away two on the Lions' second chance.
Sumner continues to pace William & Mary's scoring as he connects. But again Penn State answers, this time with a Pringle three. Talor Battle pulls down a defensive rebound and Pringle hits his second three in a row. Penn State in control 45-28 as Pringle finds his shot.
15:34 left second half
PSU 45, W&M 28
Now, over to Matt Fortuna the rest of the way.
*****
Before I send it over to Fortuna for the second half, here are some of the key stats at the midway point:
Leading scorers:
PSU: Talor Battle 15
W&M: Danny Sumner 8
Leading rebounders:
PSU: Jamelle Cornley 4
W&M: Marcus Kitts 4
William & Mary team stats:
36% field goals
33.3% three-pointers
14 rebounds
8 turnovers
Penn State team stats:
50% field goals
41.7% three-pointers
15 rebounds
6 turnovers
Once again, Penn State leads William & Mary 35-24 at the half. Matt Fortuna will be taking over the blog shortly.
*****
Talor Battle hits a shot to give him 12 points for the game. Shortly after, Battle hits a three-pointer to put PSU back up 14. Battle is now 6-of-7 from the field.
PSU is now being patient on offense as the clock rolls under one minute. Battle actually misses a jumper and the Tribe's David Schneider hits a three in transition. Shot clock is now off.
Battle misses a three and a last-second effort by Cornley falls short. We have reached halftime.
Halftime
PSU 35, W&M 24
*****
Marcus Kitts misses both of this free throw attempts after the timeout and PSU takes control on the other end up 14. Cornley misses a short jumper.
W&M hits a three, picks up a steal and cuts the lead down to nine with a dunk by Sumner. Ed DeChellis promptly calls Penn State's first timeout of the game.
2:45 left first half
PSU 30, W&M 21
*****
My colleague Nate Mink points out the Tribe's shooting troubles, as they are just 4-18 from the field.
D.J. Jackson follows up a Pringle miss with a strong put-back to give PSU a 14-point advantage.
Schneider takes an off-balance jumper on the other end but connects.
His next shot is William & Mary's second air ball of the night.
Pringle shoots another three while not open and misses. W&M back with the ball down 26-14. I was about to say that Penn State's man-to-man continues to look strong, but a wide open Peter Stein gets an easy lay up off a cut down the middle.
Pringle with a great feed down low to Jackson and he gets hacked on his way up. He hits both free throws and Penn State follows up with a full court press. The Tribe beat the press but Battle comes up with a steal anyway and goes the length of the floor for an easy lay-in. Battle is the first player in double-figures with 10 points already on 4-of-5 shooting. He has certainly looked like the best player on the floor so far.
3:50 left first half
PSU 30, W&M 16
*****
Cornley hit just 59.6% of his free throws last season but hits his first two of the 2008-09 season. The Tribe answers with a three-pointer to cut the lead to 10.
William & Mary remains in a zone on defense, and PSU's offense did exactly what it was supposed to do with good ball movement before Jackson took an open three, but his shot was off target.
We're off to the under-eight media timeout.
7:42 left first half
PSU 24, W&M 12
*****
Penn State is relying heavily on threes right now but has hit on 4-of-6 attempts. In contrast, the Tribe has hit just 1-of-6.
The Lions now are even smaller on the floor as Jones comes out. It's Battle, Pringle, Morrissey, Cornley and Jackson. It doesn't seem to matter as Pringle nails a long jumper for two.
Morrissey picks up a foul in what has been a relatively clean game so far. Just three fouls combined between the teams.
Pringle passed up an open three opportunity only to take one with a defender in his face moments later. PSU gets the ball back though as Pringle tracks it down off a deflection.
Cornley will go to the line for PSU's first trip.
9:06 left first half
PSU 20, W&M 9
*****
Danny Morrissey enters the game after the timeout, replacing Stanley Pringle.
Peter Stein sinks both of his high-arcing free throws and is pulled from the game after cutting the lead to three.
Morrissey makes a sloppy pass that is stolen by W&M, but the Lions get the ball back on the other end. Cornley misses a short jumper and the Tribe sets things up again offensively.
David Schneider misses two straight three point attempts for the Tribe. They keep possession but D.J. Jackson makes a great defensive play and swats away a slam dunk attempt.
PSU slows things down and gets the ball into Jones in the post, and he puts away a short shot for two.
The Lions are moving to a smaller lineup as Pringle re-enters the game for D.J. Jackson. Battle, Pringle, Morrissey, Cornley and Jones now for PSU.
The Tribe's Peter Stein puts up an ugly three-point attempt that sails over the basket and catches nothing but air, and Morrissey follows up with a good three-pointer in transition to put Penn State back up eight.
Marcus Kitts scores on Cornley for the Tribe, but Cornley follows it up with a rare three-pointer and PSU goes up nine.
10:49 left first half
PSU 18, W&M 9
*****
The two teams exchange turnovers and William & Mary will set it up with under 17 minutes left. The Tribe finally get on the board with a Danny Sumner three pointer.
Arkansas transfer Sean McCurdy gets his first bucket as a member of the Tribe to cut PSU's lead to three after a Stanley Pringle miss.
D.J. Jackson misses a three on the other end but follows the shot and ends up with an easy lay in. Great hustle by Jackson.
Andrew Jones picks up the first foul of the game as we head to the first media timeout of the game.
15:15 left first half
PSU 10, William & Mary 5
*****
Jeff Brooks is suited up, but we'll see if he gets into the game.
Penn State wins the opening tip but immediately turns the ball over to the Tribe.
W&M misses a three and Talor Battle responds for Penn State with one from well behind the arc. The Tribe appear to be in a 2-3 zone.
Meanwhile, PSU is opening in man-to-man. Jamelle Cornley puts the Lions up 5-0 early.
PSU is looking strong defensively so far. And Battle knocks down another three to put the Lions up 8-0. William & Mary promptly calls a timeout.
17:22 remaining first half
PSU 8, W&M 0
*****
It's looking like a solid student turnout for the first game of the season against a mid-major opponent. The rest of the arena? Well, there are a lot of empty blue seats with just a few minutes until game time.
In other news, the Pittsburgh Pirates green parrot mascot has made an appearance on the floor. The bird is here along with Pirates players Jeff Karstens, Sean Burnett and Neil Walker as part of a promotion.
*****
Hey everyone, Matt Brown here to take you through the first half of tonight's season opener for Penn State basketball. Tonight, the Nittany Lions welcome the William & Mary Tribe to the BJC for the first meeting between the teams since a 1914 showdown that Penn State won by the thrilling score of 21-19. The Tribe like to slow the game down on offense, but let's hope things don't get that crazy here tonight.
William & Mary hasn't had a lot of success historically but has put together back-to-back seasons of at least 15 wins and made it to the tournament championship of the tough Colonial Athletic Association. The Tribe beat Georgia State, Old Dominion and Virginia Commonwealth in the CAA tournament last year before falling to George Mason.
The Tribe return three starters while also welcoming Arkansas transfer Sean McCurdy to the lineup at guard. He will likely start his first game for W&M tonight.
Tonight's starting lineups:
William & Mary
G- 12 Sean McCurdy, Jr.
G- 2 David Schneider, Jr.
G- 22 Danny Sumner, Jr.
F- 23 Chris Darnell, Sr.
F- 15 Peter Stein, Sr.
Penn State
G- 12 Talor Battle, So.
G- 11 Stanley Pringle, Sr.
G- 15 D.J. Jackson, So.
F- 2 Jamelle Cornley, Sr.
C- 22 Andrew Jones, So.
We're still waiting to see if sophomore forward Jeff Brooks will be available after suffering a concussion last Thursday.
Although Coquese Washington enters only her second year at the helm, she is already making waves in the recruiting realm.
According to Hoopgurlz.com, Penn State's 2009 recruiting class is No. 14 in the nation, according to the Web site's statistical analysis.
The Lady Lions have three players signed already, including Alexandria Bentley, who is ranked No. 76 in the Top 100. Bentley is another Indiana recruit, showcasing Washington's ability to recruit in the Midwest, where she was an assistant coach with Notre Dame.
One player who has not officially signed but has given a verbal is 6-foot-5 Nikki Green. Green is No. 19 in the Top 100 on Hoopgurlz, and her size would do wonders to help Penn State's post play in the future. Hailing from Texas, Washington beat out national powers LSU, Rutgers and Texas to get Green, according to Hoopgurlz.com
The recruiting class is also ranked No. 7 by Blue Star Basketball and No. 13 by the All Star Girls Report.
In the return of Ten Question Thursday, we caught up with senior defenseman Steve Thurston.
It started off as a quiet interview in the East Area Locker Room lounge, and turned into an almost team-wide venture as several other players gathered around to listen in, comment, and of course, laugh.
If not hockey, what sport would you be playing?
Golf. I like golf. I'm not very good at it, but I like it. Actually, no, change that. I want to play water polo. Water polo's pretty sweet. Either that or handball.
A lot of the great water polo players have mustaches. Would you grow one?
I guess I'd have to grow a mustache, or I'd just go with the full beard, [Steve] Peck look.
What is your favorite place to eat in town?
Thursday night burger night at Chili's. We usually go on Thursday nights, a bunch of us.
What is your favorite class taken at Penn State?
Entomology 202, I think it is. The study of insects. It's really good. The teacher, doctor, something-or-other, is really good. It's a good class to take. Everyone should take it to learn about the insects.
Do you have any hidden talents most people don't know about?
I'm really good at beating Frank Berry in NCAA Football on XBOX. He hasn't beat me yet.
Who is your favorite hockey player?
Gabe Gauthier of the University of Denver Pioneers. He is the southern California sensation. He's probably the most-talented forward in the country. He doesn't get the respect he should.
What is your favorite Coach Balboni quirk?
When he says "logistics" all the time. He says everything's logistics. He doesn't even know what logistics are. Logistics have to do with trucks driving from Point A to Point B, and he thinks everything we do has logistics in it.
What is your prediction on how Penn State's football team will do for the rest of the season?
I'm disappointed. I was hoping they could go all the way this year and JoePa could retire on top. Hopefully they go to the Rose Bowl, but hopefully they don't play USC. I think USC and Florida are the best two teams in the country. So if they play USC in the Rose Bowl, it'll be tough.
In the movie of your life, who plays your girlfriend?
I don't know. Some girl from the movie we were watching on the bus. The two twins in [I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry]. They would be my wives.
Ladies man? I think Luke DeLorenzo thinks he's the biggest ladies man. I think it's between [Chris] Pronchik and John Jay. They fight it out at their house for all ladies.
Who has the best nickname on the team?
I definitely say the best nickname on the team is my nickname, "Sweet Lou." It's a self-given nickname. It goes back for years and years, of how sweet I am.
Well, that was quick. Just a few weeks ago I mentioned my (and presumably every Penn State basketball fan's) dream of having Gus Johnson call Nittany Lions games.
As it turns out, Johnson has signed on with the Big Ten Network!
As you can imagine, I am pumped. Hell, my colleagues and I will probably be able to hear him from press row after a Jamelle Cornley dunk.
Who knows? Maybe the Lions can "shock the world" this season like our boy Seth Petruzelli...
Tom Crean wasted no time cleaning up the mess he walked into at Indiana, as the Hoosiers signed five players on the first day of the early signing period on Wednesday. They are expected to have one more letter of intent come their way by next Wednesday, the end of the early signing period, when Bawa Muniru, a 6-10, 250-pound center, officially makes his college decision.
Among Indiana's commits is Derek Elston, a four-star prospect out of Tipton, IN, who originally committed to Kelvin Sampson. Crean was able to keep the power forward locked in after the former Marquette coach took over at the helm.
Four of the five early signees for Indiana are four-star prospects. According to Scout.com, the Hoosiers' 2009 class is No. 7 in the country, good for tops among all Big Ten schools.
Tubby Smith also made some noise yesterday, signing a pair of four-star in-state prospects and a two-star point guard out of California. He's also received a verbal commitment from three-star power forward Trevor Mbakwe, who has yet to officially sign. Still, Minnesota's incoming class is ranked No. 11 in the country, according to Scout.com.
Right behind them at No. 13 is Illinois, who received signed letters of intent yesterday from all four of its players who had verbally committed, including a trio of four-star prospects.
Matt Painter and John Beilein each inked four recruits to Purdue and Michigan, respectively.
Rounding out the rest of the Big Ten are Michigan State, Northwestern and Wisconsin, with two signings each, and Iowa, with one. With zero graduating seniors at the end of the academic year, Ohio State did not sign a single player.
The ACHA released its third ranking of the season Friday, so we'll take a look at the top 10 teams and how they fared this weekend, in addition to who they'll take on this weekend.
1. Illinois (29 1st place votes) - Record: 11-1-0 Last Week: The Illini were off last weekend. They swept No. 17 Robert Morris College two weekends ago by scores of 7-1 and 6-0. Up Next: vs. No. 12 Michigan-Dearborn. This is the 13th straight ranking with Illinois occupying the top spot.
2. Lindenwood (7) - Record: 14-1-1 Last Week: The Lions swept No. 16 Western Michigan, beating them 9-2 Friday and 8-4 Saturday. Up Next: vs. Eastern Michigan. The Lions play each of their nine games in November at home, including a showdown with No. 1 Illinois on Nov. 21 and 22.
3. Penn State (5) - Record: 10-2-0 Last Week: The Icers split a home-and-home series with Drexel, falling at home by a score of 3-2 Friday before winning 4-1 Saturday in Philadelphia. Up Next: at Navy. The Icers lost Friday night despite outshooting the Dragons 66-20. The loss also marked the fewest goals scored by Penn State this season.
4. Liberty - Record: 12-2-1 Last Week: The Flames beat No. 8 West Chester twice by identical 2-1 scores. Up Next: vs. No. 5 Delaware. Liberty's only losses have been an overtime defeat at the hands of No. 19 Stony Brook and a 6-1 loss to No. 2 Lindenwood.
5. Delaware (1) - Record: 9-1-3 Last Week: The Blue Hens were off last week. They split their series with No. 10 Rhode Island the previous weekend; Delaware won 8-1 on Friday, but the Rams took Saturday's game by a score of 5-4 in overtime. Up Next: @ No. 4 Liberty. Delaware's other two overtime losses came to No. 3 Penn State at the start of October. No. 8 West Chester is the only team to knock off the Blue Hens in regulation.
6. Oklahoma - Record: 11-1-0 Last Week: The Sooners crushed Kansas, winning 8-0 Friday and 11-0 Saturday. Up Next: at No. 11 Central Oklahoma Friday, vs. No. 11 Central Oklahoma Saturday. Oklahoma has ripped off 10 straight wins since losing at Liberty on Sept. 20.
7. Iowa State - Record: 13-2-1 Last Week: Beat Arizona State twice by a 3-2 score in each contest. Up Next: vs. No. 9 Kent State. The Cyclones have played 14 of their 16 games this season in the friendly confines of their home rink in Ames, Iowa.
8. West Chester - Record: 8-4-0 Last Week: Lost twice at No. 4 Liberty. The Golden Rams lost each game by a score of 2-1. Up Next: vs. Villanova Friday, at No. 19 Stony Brook Saturday. Three of West Chester's four losses this season have come by one goal.
9. Kent State - Record: 9-4-0 Last Week: Lost to Towson 4-3 Friday, beat No. 15 West Virginia 6-5 in a shootout Saturday. Up Next: at No. 7 Iowa State. While the Golden Flashes fell to unranked Towson this weekend, they are 7-3 against ranked teams this season.
10. Rhode Island - Record: 9-4-1 Last Week: Split two games with Scranton. The Rams won Friday by a score of 4-1 but fell to the Ice Royals on Saturday, 8-7. Up Next: vs. NCAA Division III Wesleyan. Rhode Island began the season 7-1, but the Rams have dropped three of their last four contests.
That's all for now. Check back throughout the week for Icers updates, as well as our Ten Question Thursday feature with senior Steve Thurston.
It doesn't seem too long ago that Bob Knight constantly ripped the media and instilled fear in young reporters at press conferences.
Now, after being featured in-studio on ESPN during March Madness last season, Knight's role will increase with the network in the 2008-09 season. The former coach of Army, Indiana and Texas Tech and the all-time leader in Division I victories, Knight will team up with Brent Musberger on Thursday night broadcasts beginning in January -- in addition to other games alongside Dan Shulman and various studio roles.
While Penn State has three games on the ESPN family of networks, don't expect Knight in the Bryce Jordan Center this year. Games at home against Northwestern and on the road against Georgia Tech will be broadcast on ESPN2, dates with Army and Lafayette will be shown on ESPNU and the Nittany Lions will travel to Ohio State and make an appearance on ESPN on Tuesday, Feb. 24.
And just for fun, here's an example of Knight's past experience dealing with the media as a coach. Who knows, maybe his "crystal ball" will make an appearance in the ESPN studio.
Internet problems stopped us from live blogging today's Lady Lions' exhibition, but here's a brief summary from back at the office.
The Lady Lions routed the Lady Vulcans, 90-56, led by 17 points and 15 rebounds by Julia Trogele. Janessa Wolff added 16 points, as Penn State received great performances from its post players -- an area the team struggled in last season.
Some stats to note: Penn State forced 29 turnovers (caused by coach Coquese Washington's newly-implemented 2-3 zone), senior point guard Brianne O'Rourke was 10 of 12 from the field (3 of 5 from three-point range), and the Lady Lions held Cal U to 29.7% from the field. Perhaps the only disturbing statistic was the team's 13 for 27 performance from the charity stripe.
Some highlights:
About five minutes into the first half, Trogele misses two lay ups but gets her own rebounds with several Vulcan defenders all over her, and finally draws the foul and puts it in. She makes the free throw.
With under a minute to go in the first half, O'Rourke finds a cutting Meggan Quinn wide open on a back door for an easy deuce. On the ensuing throw-in, O'Rourke steals the ball out of the Vulcan guard's hands and goes for an uncontested lay-up, putting PSU up 38-19 at half.
The Lions open up the second half on a 13-3 run, highlighted by O'Rourke and Quinn breaking down a full-court press and finding Janessa Wolff open for a lay up.
I'm gonna turn it over to Fortuna for the second half. But first, some first half analysis. Penn State's press is paying off, forcing 11 turnovers is not too shabby. Even un-shabbier is just the two turnovers the Lions have. Yeah, the Huskies are shooting 45 percent, but they only took 20 shots.
Let's see if Penn State makes an effort to get to the line more in the second half. I like this defense. Always been a big advocate of straight up man defense, and DeChellis has to be pleased with the job his team has done on the "other" end of the floor.
Penn State's holding for the last shot. Cornley misses a long jumper. And a final heave is like 99.9 percent of final heaves ... no good.
Halftime
PSU 37, Bloomsburg 24
Let's take a look at the first half stats
PSU
Field goals 9-20 45.0%
3-point FGs 2-9 22.2%
Free throws 4-12 33.3%
Reb (O-D) 18 (5-13)
Turnovers 11
Bloomsburg
Field goals 15-35 42.9%
3-point FGs 2-8 25.0%
Free throws 5-6 83.3%
Reb (O-D) 18 (7-11)
Turnovers 2
Leading scorers:
Talor Battle PSU 11 pts.
Ruben Britt BU 8 pts.
***
Woodyard jets right to the hoop on a missed Pringle three to get an easy 2. Nobody boxed out Woodyard.
5-0 Husky runs cuts to lead to 12. But Cornley answers with a long 2-point jumper.
48.6 seconds remaining
PSU 37, Bloomsburg 23
***
Bloomsburg is shooting awful. I don't have a stat sheet in front of me, but if I were a betting man, I'd take the under on 35 percent from the field.
Whitehall's own Will Leiner checks into the game. Somewhere, Jerry Radocha smiles.
Battle sits with five minutes to play first half. Could be all we see from Battle til the second half.
Pringle's been able to get to the hoop with his quickness, but has failed to finish on a few occasions.
4:34 left first half
PSU 31, Bloomsburg 16
***
I'd say we got about 3,000 on hand for this doozy. There's a Steve Kirkpatrick sighting on the floor for the Nits.
Battle has 11 points to lead all scorers. Nobody on Bloomsburg has the quickness to match up with him. Penn State has 8 team fouls with just over six minutes to play. Gotta move your feet, boys.
***
Battle strong move going baseline. Another Battle self-take off a turnover, and the Huskies take a timeout. Battle and Pringle has been able to penetrate the lane a lot in the first half. Babb hustling on the defensive end, fighting for possession in the corner right in front of the Penn State bench. Babb got tabbed for the personal foul, but DeChellis applauds the hustle.
7:56 remaining
PSU 29, Bloomsburg 11
***
Huskies unaware of the expiring shot clock turn it over.
Cammeron Woodyard just missed a steal on an errant pass. The Lions are on a 17-4 run with Marko Vucajnk on the line for Bloomsburg
9:23 remaining first half
PSU 25, Bloomsburg 11
A Morrissey catch and shoot three-ball ensues more backcourt pressure from the Lions.
Folks if it seems like updates are coming in about as fast as Kenny George-led fast break, we apologize. The wireless connection inside the BJC is awful.
A Pringle three-point attempt got changed to a 2-point basket. Lion lead is 10.
***
DeChellis definitely made it a point to run his press packages. Just bringing the ball up the court is giving the Huskies fits. The Lions are playing hard-nosed man-to-man defense all half.
11:52 remaining first half
PSU 20, Bloomsburg 10
***
Lions are pressing every Husky inbound. They get their first turnover off the inbound press for a Battle lay-up.
14:36 left first half
PSU 13, Bloomsburg 8
Chris Babb checks in with 15:47 left in the first half
16:00 left first half
PSU 8, Bloomsburg 6
***
Nittany Nation is going 11 strong right now. Just nine Huskies are in uniform and out for shoot-a-round. Andrew Ott, Billy Oliver and Jeff Brooks are dressed in street clothes are sitting on the bench.
No word on why Brooks isn't playing. Drew and Mills are not in the starting lineups for the Huskies.
Here are the starting lineups:
Penn State
12 G Talor Battle
11 G Stanley Pringle
22 C Andrew Jones
33 F Danny Morrissey
2 F Jamelle Cornley
Bloomsburg
20 G Jesse Betar
3 G Ruben Britt
55 F Larry Webster
40 F Daniel Hoover
22 G Trevon Johnson
***
Hey all you Penn State basketball fans, it's Mink taking you through the first half of the Nittany Lions' exhibition game vs Bloomsburg here at the Bryce Jordan Center. We're about 20 minutes from tip-off here, so hang tight.
To give you an idea about the Division II Huskies, they hail from the PSAC conference, finished 8-19 a year ago, including no wins in the conference. Their best player might be Drew Jerry, a senior guard who averaged 6.7 ppg and 3.2 apg.
Bloomsburg also brings 6-foot-8 swingman Bryson Mills. Mills is a lanky fellow whose height could provide problems for the Lions on the wing.
Comments
Nittany Nation is going 11 strong right now. Just nine Huskies are in uniform and out for shoot-a-round. Andrew Ott, Billy Oliver and Jeff Brooks are dressed in street clothes are sitting on the bench.
No word on why Brooks isn't playing. Drew and Mills are not in the starting lineups for the Huskies.
Here are the starting lineups:
Penn State
12 guard Talor Battle
11 guard Stanley Pringle
22 center Andrew Jones
33 forward Danny Morrissey
2 forward Jamelle Cornley
Bloomsburg
20 guard Jesse Betar
3 guard Ruben Britt
55 forward Larry Webster
40 forward Daniel Hoover
22 guard Trevon Johnson
***
Hey all you Penn State basketball fans, it's Mink taking you through the first half of the Nittany Lions' exhibition game vs Bloomsburg here at the Bryce Jordan Center. We're about 20 minutes from tip-off here, so hang tight.
To give you an idea about the Division II Huskies, they hail from the PSAC conference, finished 8-19 a year ago, including no wins in the conference. Their best player might be Drew Jerry, a senior guard who averaged 6.7 ppg and 3.2 apg.
Bloomsburg also brings 6-foot-8 swingman Bryson Mills. Mills is a lanky fellow whose height could provide problems for the Lions on the wing.
Comments
After last night's loss to Drexel at the Greenberg Ice Pavilion, the Icers went home and got some sleep before waking up today and busing to Drexel for the second game of a home-and-home series.
The Icers lost last night 3-2, despite having 71 shots on goal. Last night's No. 1 star of the game Daniel Pyne, Drexel's goalie, has been given the night off tonight. Well deserved after making 69 saves last night, in one of the more dominating performances I've ever seen from a goalie. He did give up some rebounds in front, which the Icers were unable to take advantage of, but in the end, 69 saves is 69 saves. That's a save percentage of 97. Unbelievable.
The Icers have a change in goal tonight, too. Teddy Hume is starting in net for Penn State.
I'm not at the game, but apparently the Class of 1923 Arena in Philadelphia has quite a weird setup. The two benches are on opposite sides of the ice, across from each other instead of nect to each other. And to my understanding, there is only one penalty box, which is Drexel's. So Penn State's "penalty box" is inside the door of the zamboni entrance. Interesting.
1st Period
Alright, this game has started a lot like last night's. Lots of shots and nothing to show for it. Right now, it's a 0-0 game with both teams having power play opportunities and a couple scoring opportunities early. Just under 10 minutes left in the period.
Drexel penalty and the Icers will have another power play here in the opening period.
Shots on goal so far: Icers 13, Dragons 5. Just for comparison, the shots on goal after one period last night were 24-5 in favor of Penn State, so we could be well on our way to seeing those kinds of numbers again tonight. 7:45 to go.
The Icers continue to fire shots on Chris Stollings, but his performance so far has been reminiscent of Pyne's 69-save performance last night. Lots of action around the net, but nothing has gotten through yet.
Drexel on the PP now and taking advantage of it so far. Putting some shots on Hume and good puck movement had the Icers scrambling around a little bit, but captain Frank Berry finally corralled the puck and cleared it away. Penalty over, back to full strength.
Jaime Zimmel was just hit hard and is down on the ice. Kyle Mills came to his defense quickly, going after the Drexel player who delivered the hit. Craig Brooks was quick to come over, too. Zimmel eventually got up on his own power, albeit slowly, and made it to the bench.
A five-minute major penalty was given for the hit. So the Icers, who have dominated play for most of the night even at full-strength, will now have a man advantage for the final 40 seconds of the first period and into the second.
Goal! With just 5.6 seconds remaining in the period, Steve Thurston finally snuck one past Stollings to open the scoring.
End of the 1st: Icers 1, Dragons 0.
2nd Period
Second Period under way and the Icers still have about four minutes left on that PP from the five-minute major penalty on Drexel near the end of that opening period.
Interesting change here. It looked like Drexel was giving Daniel Pyne the night off after facing 71 shots last night, but he has come into the game for Stollings. Let's see if the goalie change gives the Dragons a spark or if the Icers can finally get to Pyne and slip some shots past him.
Turns out, it's the latter of the two. Luke DeLorenzo scores goal No. 88 of his career and No. 2 of the night for the Icers. 2-0, Icers. And still two minutes left on that power play. Shots on goal now 27-10 in favor of Penn State.
Goal! DeLorenzo adds another power play goal. 3-0, Icers. STILL 34 seconds left in the major penalty.
The five-minute power play is finally over and what a costly one it was for Drexel. Penn State scored all three of their goals in that five-minute span with the man advantage.
Now Drexel will get a chance on the power play, with Brent Trant picking up an Icers penalty.
No damage there. Not many shots or scoring opportunities for Drexel.
After the Icers return to full strength, Drexel gets a decent scoring chance, but Hume turns it away for his 12th save of the night.
Update shots on goal: Icers 35, Dragons 12.
Icers keeping the pressure on, shot after shot. This game has been a lot like last night's so far, except some of the shots are actually finding the back of the net for Penn State.
More Icers shots, more Drexel saves. After a few rebounds in front, the Dragons finally clear it down the ice and take the icing call.
Another Icer penalty, though. The penalty comes with 4:29 left in the second period. Again though, not much of a threat put forth by Drexel. Icers kill it off rather easily.
And just moments later, the Icers record the first full strength goal of the night. Chris Cerutti puts one past Pyne, Icers lead 4-0.
And that's it for the period.
End of two: Icers 4, Dragons 0.
3rd Period
So, the Icers are just 20 minutes away from improving to 22-1-0 all-time against the Dragons, with that only loss coming last night at home for the Icers.
A couple of early penalties have put the Icers at a disadvantage, though. Rubeo picks one up early and then John Conte picks up another as the Icers are trying to kill it off. 5-on-3 for the Dragons for the next 1:06.
More penalties now, but they won't affect the power play. Craig Brooks and a Drexel player were both just given matching 10-minute misconduct penalties.
Rubeo's penalty is over, but the Dragons still have another 54 seconds on the PP with Conte in the box.
Back to full strength, still 4-0 Icers.
9:44 left in the third and the Icers will go on another PP after a goalie interference penalty against Drexel.
And before things can even get going, Drexel picks up another penalty, giving the Icers a two-man advantage for the next 1 minute, 36 seconds.
Big difference from the Drexel powerplays here, as you can definitely tell Penn State has a two-man advantage. The puck hasn't left the Drexel zone since the second penalty was called and the Icers have already put four shots on net with the puck sliding harmlessly through the crease a couple of times.
The first Drexel penalty has expired, and the 24 seconds remaining on the other one quickly tick away, as well. Back to full strength.
Chris Cerutti just took a shot to the face from an apparent high stick that wasn't called. He skated over to the bench, as Coach Balboni lit into the referee for not making a call.
Balboni has been unhappy with the officials on a few occasions tonight, with the referee blowing the play dead a few times claiming the Drexel goalie had froze the puck despite the puck still being loose around the crease.
And now, Tranter called for a tripping penalty, which surely won't make Balboni a whole lot happier with the officiating.
Only 4:02 remaining now, score remains 4-0, Icers.
There goes the shutout. Drexel puts away a powerplay goal past Teddy Hume. A failed clearing attempt by Conte led to a shot in front of the net and the first goal of the night for the Dragons. Icers still lead 4-1, with just over two minutes left.
And that's it for tonight. The Icers bounce back from last night's disappointing loss with a 4-1 victory tonight.
Well, that's all for now. Be sure to check the Collegian on Monday for full coverage of both of this weekend's games.
Well, it certainly has not been a good weekend for Penn State sports fans. Last night, the No. 3 Penn State Icers lost to unranked Drexel for the first time ever, 3-2. The Icers had been 21-0-0 all-time against the Dragons before a goal in the final 30 seconds of last night's matchup put Drexel ahead for good.
Ironically, the newest edition of the ACHA rankings were released yesterday before the Icers took the ice. It is the second time in a row a top-ranked team has lost after the rankings were released. The last time the ACHA released a new poll, No. 1 Illinois lost for the first time in over a year.
On top of the Icers loss, as most of you know Penn State football ended their national title hopes with the loss today. Also, the field hockey team was upset in the opening round of the Big Ten tournament yesterday. On a brighter note, the Lady Icers were able to snap their seven-game losing streak with an 8-0 win over UConn.
Well now that you have your update on the forgettable weekend for Penn State sports, stick around for some updates on the Icers' rematch tonight with Drexel, which is already underway.
For the Lady Lions, this exhibition game will be the same as a regular season one.
Penn State opens its 2008 season against California (Pa.) in an exhibition match Sunday at 4:30 in Rec Hall. Although the outcome doesn't impact the record, coach Coquese Washington said she is approaching it as a regular season game.
The Vulcans aren't a typical exhibition opponent, as they are ranked No. 2 in Division II, and previously beat Appalachian State.
California (Pa.) assistant coach is Jessica Strom is a former player at Penn State and graduated in 2005.
As for Penn State, Washington still isn't completely decided on a starting lineup.
Three players to keep an eye on are freshmen Zhaque Gray, Emily Phillips and Renee Womack. All three fit right into Washington's up-tempo style she wants to implement, and Sunday will be the first time the trio will play in a game environment.
In her second year at the helm, Washington wants to use more zone defense. After playing more man-to-man defense last year, Washington said playing zone will help keep the ball around the perimeter and away from the post, where Penn State struggled last season.
But doing so will also hurt with rebounding, an aspect Washington keeps reiterating as a necessary point for improvement. She said while it is harder to rebound in zone, it comes to "picking your poison."
As Washington and the Lady Lions prepare for the season, both players and Washington said they feel more comfortable in her system. While she said her team is farther along than it was last year, the transition process is not yet over.
In the end, Sunday will be the first test to see how far Penn State has come over the last few months as it tries to erase a 12-game losing streak it says is in the past.
For the third straight season, North Carolina forward Tyler Hansbrough was the leading vote-getter for the AP preseason All-American team. He and UCLA guard Darren Collison are the only repeat selections from last year's team.
Joining the pair of seniors are Davidson junior Stephen Curry, Notre Dame forward Luke Harangody and Oklahoma forward Blake Griffin.
Hansbrough's name was on all 72 ballots, as he became the first unanimous selection since Duke's Jason (er, Jay) Williams prior to the 2001-02 season.
Not a single player from a Big Ten school was among the 19 other players receiving votes. There were, however, a pair of Pitt players, DeJuan Blair and Sam Young. I'm sure that will sit well with a bunch of you.
It may have been an NBA game, but just the sound of one of our favorite play-by-play men has us ready for some college hoops.
In just his first game calling the Knicks this season, Gus Johnson already appears to be in midseason form. Johnson, as you may know, also calls college basketball action for CBS.
It's a shame the chance of him calling a Penn State game this season is slim to none. Imagine the energetic voice calling a Talor Battle drive or Jamelle Cornley slam. Wishful thinking? Perhaps.
I, for one, will always associate Johnson's voice with the energy that is March Madness. For now, however, we'll have to settle with his call of a Wilson Chandler slam in New York's opener against the Miami Heat on Wednesday. From tiricosuave.com...
The AP released its first poll of the season Sunday, and there aren't too many surprises.
Connecticut received all but one first place vote to take the No. 1 spot. The Huskies won 36 games last season before losing to Stanford in the Final Four.
Speaking of Stanford, it comes in at No. 2 and with the other first-place vote. The Cardinal do lose Candice Wiggins to the WNBA, but are again the favorite in the Pac 10.
Maryland, Oklahoma and Rutgers round out the top five.
Another important team of note is two-time defending national champion Tennessee, which still enters at No. 7 despite massive personnel loses.
The Big Ten has two just ranked teams, with Ohio State at No. 18 and Purdue at No. 23. Michigan State sits right outside of the poll, just two spots away. Iowa also has one receiving vote.
Penn State didn't receive any votes, but the Lady Lions will have a few chances to make a statement in the non-conference portion of the schedule. Penn State plays No. 1 Connecticut, No. 11 Texas A&M, No. 21 Florida State and Pitt (which comes in at 26) before Big Ten play begins.
