| The Nittany Lions fell short at home to Minnesota, 77-66. Senior Travis Parker netted 19 points and pulled down nine rebounds in the contest. |
Box Score
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University Park, Pa., Feb. 8, 2006 - The Penn State basketball team (11-10; 3-7 Big Ten) lost a tough home contest to a hot shooting Minnesota team (11-9; 2-7 Big Ten) Wednesday falling 77-66 in the Bryce Jordan Center. Penn State, coming off a thrilling upset at No. 6 Illinois and beginning a three-game home stand, could not capitalize on an early 10-0 lead and were scorched in the second half by the Gophers' Adam Boone who hit six of seven three pointers and scored all of his game-high 20 points in the half.
"I tried for two days to rattle their cages and get them to understand how hard we have to play and obviously I didn't do a very good job of it," Penn State Coach Ed DeChellis said. "Even when we were up at the start of the game I thought this was going to be a long, tough night for us because we just didn't have any pop."
Penn State was led on the night by Travis Parker who turned in a second straight strong performance with 19 points, nine rebounds and two assists. The senior shot seven-of-12 from the field, three-of-four from behind the arc, and made several big plays in an effort to grab a victory for the Lions. Geary Claxton added 14 points and five rebounds and Jamelle Cornley contributed 10 points.
Penn State took a 27-25 lead into the second half, but Minnesota quickly scored five straight points and took the lead on a Boone three at the 19:10 mark. They would hold a slim lead for most of the rest of the game before opening the margin in the last three minutes. Penn State rallied to tie the game six times and held slim one point leads three times.
Penn State took its first lead of the half when Parker scored seven of 12 Penn State points over a six- minute stretch. Parker hit a three that tied the score at 39-39 then dished a nice assist to freshman Milos Bogetic who converted, was fouled and made the free throw for a 42-39 lead. Minnesota answered with a three from Dan Coleman to tie the game. Penn State again took the lead 45-44 on a Mike Walker three, but Minnesota again answered with a three from Boone for a 47-45 advantage. A Parker three again put Penn State on top by one and Coleman answered with a lay-up on the other end.
Claxton got a lay-up for Penn State for the Nittany Lions' last lead at 50-49 with 9:39 to play. From there Minnesota outscored Penn State 28-16 the remainder of the way as Boone continued to make threes and Vincent Grier continually got to the line making 10-of-10 free throws on the night, eight in the second half, for most of his 16 points. The Gophers dominated the boards out-rebounding Penn State 37-23 and shot 57.7 percent in the second half, including 70 percent from behind the arc.
"We didn't box out," Parker said. "The main key going into the game was offensive rebounds. They are a great offensive rebounding team. I think they wanted it more than we did tonight, especially the rebounds."
Minnesota pushed the lead out to nine on a Boone three at the 4:15 mark. Penn State answered with a David Jackson three and a Claxton bucket to cut the margin to 64-60, but would get no closer as Minnesota went 11-of-12 from the free throw line down the stretch.
"I wish you could have read the board before the game.," DeChellis said. "The keys to the game were transition defense number one, rebounding number two, and energy and focus. We didn't rebound the ball, we didn't play great transition defense, and we certainly didn't have energy or focus. The three things we tried to stress for three days we didn't do, so that's why it's frustrating for me."
Penn State started the game with a 10-0 run, holding Minnesota scoreless for the first 7 minutes of play. When the Gophers did get on the board at the 13-minute mark with a Maurice Hargrow free throw the proceeded to go on a 10-0 run of their own. Penn State went scoreless for the next six minutes as Minnesota played a smothering man-to-man defense. Bogetic finally broke the drought with a lay-up high off the glass for a 12-10 lead at 8:11 in the first half.
The teams traded baskets for the next several minutes, including seven straight points from Cornley who had nine in the half. After getting a steal and being fouled by Hargrow, Walker made a pair of free throws, part of a seven for seven effort from the line for the half for Penn State, for a 27-23 Penn State lead. Minnesota's J'son Stamper closed the half with a lay-up to cut the lead to two.
Penn State returns to the Jordan Center Saturday as they take on Wisconsin at 4:00 p.m. The Badgers are coming off a 72-54 pounding of Indiana in Madison Wednesday. The game will be televised live on ESPN2 and will be a "White Out" game for Nittany Lion fans.