Aug. 31, 2008
Toronto, Canada, Aug. 31, 2008 - The Penn State men's basketball team improved to a perfect 3-0 on its Canadian exhibition tour, rising to the challenge of its best competition yet to post a 34-point victory, 102-68, over Ryerson University Sunday night in Toronto.
Guards Talor Battle (Albany, N.Y.) and Danny Morrissey (Cleveland, Ohio) combined to shoot 9-of-14 from three and led five Nittany Lions in double-figures with 17 and 16 points, respectively. Jamelle Cornley (Columbus, Ohio) added 13, Andrew Jones (Philadelphia, Pa.) 12 and Stanley Pringle (Virginia Beach, Va.) 11, for the third straight game, to round out the scoring. The Rams were led by a strong 34-point outing by 6-8 Boris Bakovic.
Penn State shot a blistering 60 percent from the floor and hit 11-of-23 threes while making 13 steals and causing 24 turnovers with a blitzkrieg press that pushed the tempo of the game to a rapid pace.
Penn State coach Ed DeChellis gave a nod to his freshmen starting Cammeron Woodyard (Westminster, Md.), Chris Babb (Arlington, Texas) and Billy Oliver (Chatham, N.J) along with veterans Pringle and Jones.
Ryerson took advantage of the Nittany Lions relative inexperience to post a slight early lead through the first quarter, but Oliver hit a three to pull Penn State within one, 21-20, at the end of the quarter.
Penn State put its regular starting five on the floor to start the second quarter and the Nittany Lions quickly went to work with an intense press and sharp shooting from the perimeter. Morrissey hit four straight threes in the quarter, including a 20-second span in which he hit two and drew a charging call on defense, and Penn State quickly took a 44-32 lead. The Lions would outscore the Rams 37-17 in the quarter, including a tomahawk dunk from Cornley off a steal on the press, and took a 57-40 lead to the half after hitting 68 percent from the floor and 75 percent from three.
Penn State kept the pressure on to start the second half and quickly built the lead over 20. The Nittany Lions put together the play of the tour so far when they got a deflection on defense. David Jackson dove full-out to save it on the sideline and tossed it ahead to Pringle. Pringle pushed the ball up the floor and lofted a nice alley-oop to Cornley who finished with a one-handed dunk over a Ryerson defender.
Penn State built as much as a 28-point lead in the third quarter and built it over 30 for much of the fourth while playing its bench for much of the final quarter.
Penn State will finish off its Canadian exhibition tour Monday with a Labor Day match-up at York University at noon. The Nittany Lions will make a stop at Niagara Falls following before returning home to State College.