April 11, 2008
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA., April 11, 2008 - Freshman Talor Battle (Albany, N.Y.) and junior Jamelle Cornley (Columbus, Ohio) shared team Most Valuable Player honors Friday at the Nittany Lion basketball team's annual post-season banquet at the Nittany Lion Inn.
Battle and Cornley were among several Nittany Lions presented awards on the night as Penn State honored seniors Geary Claxton (West Haven, Conn.), Brandon Hassell (Farmersville, Ohio), Nikola Obradovic (Belgrade, Serbia) and Mike Walker (Lewisberry, Pa.).
Battle led the Nittany Lions scoring 317 points (10.2 ppg), logging 99 assists (3.1 apg) and swiping 40 steals on the season. He also added 3.5 rebounds per game and ranked second on the team with 48 three-pointers. Battle, who started all but one game in his true-freshman season, led the Lions in scoring in eight games and posted team season highs in rebounds (13), assists (6) and three-pointers (7) on the year, while posting a career-best 28 points in a March 1 win over Michigan.
Cornley averaged 12.1 points and 6.0 rebounds per game and shot over 50 percent from the floor to earn co-MVP honors for the second straight season despite missing six games with an injured knee. Cornley logged a team high 30.6 minutes per game when on the floor and recorded a pair of double-doubles and three 20-point outings. He earned third-team All-Big Ten honors from the media and was named to the second-team by Rivals.com. He became just the 16th Lion to record 1,000 points and 500 rebounds for a career on the season.
Junior Danny Morrissey (Cleveland, Ohio), the team's leading three-point shooter with 58 treys on the year, was honored with the Scholastic Achievement Award. Morrissey's 3.54 grade-point average in finance earned him CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District II first team recognition.
Freshman David Jackson (Farrell, Pa.) earned the Scrappiest Player Award. Jackson returned from a season ending stress fracture in his left leg during his true-freshman season to start 14 games and play in all 31 on the season. He averaged 5.8 points and 3.6 rebounds while playing nearly 23 minutes per game.
Cornley was also honored with the Most Inspirational (Lou Lamie Memorial) Award for the year. Cornley suffered a severely bruised left knee during the pre-season and missed the Lions first two games of the season before returning to play 25 of the next 26 games on the knee despite continual pain and swelling. Cornley underwent an estimated 28 hours of rehab per week to be able to play on the knee before reaching his limit and missing the Lions' final three games.
In other awards presented on the night, Director of Basketball Operations Eldon Price was honored with the Unsung Hero Award for his time and dedication to the program. Sally Weakland was honored as the Club Member of the Year and Dennis Whitaker was honored as the Club Sponsor of the Year.
Penn State finished the season with a 15-16 record and went 7-11 in the Big Ten to post a seventh place conference finish, its highest since 2001. Penn State won five of its last 10 regular season games despite the loss of All-Big Ten standout Geary Claxton and Cornley and defeated No. 7 Michigan State and No. 17 Indiana in the Bryce Jordan Center during that stretch.
Penn State will return seven players with 12 or more starts in 2007-08 and 73 percent of its scoring, 75 percent of rebounding, and 79 percent of assists next season. Five of the top six Lion scorers, including the top two, and four of the top five rebounders will return for coach Ed DeChellis' sixth season at the helm.