Nov. 14, 2008
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA., Nov. 14, 2008 - Penn State leapt out to an 8-0 lead, hit its first three, three-pointers and shot 64 percent from the floor in the first 10 minutes of action to jump all over William and Mary and cruise to a 65-51 season-opening win Friday night in the Bryce Jordan Center.
Penn State held as much as a 14-point lead in the first half and increased it to 17 four minutes into the second half as the Nittany Lions led by double-digits for all but 59 seconds of the last 30 minutes of game action. Sophomore Talor Battle (Albany, N.Y.) scored 15 first half points on his way to a team-high 21-point night, the third 20-point game of his career. Battle hit 3-of-6 threes and shot 7-of-13 from the floor while adding five boards and three steals.
"Talor, I thought played well," said Penn State Coach Ed DeChellis, who celebrated his birthday on the night. "I think some of our sets took some of his creativity out and I have to take a look at that tomorrow and talk with him. We have to play through him, but at times we have to get the ball to certain guys when we are trying to exploit certain guys. If we think we can attack certain guys we have to go after them."
Senior Jamelle Cornley (Columbus, Ohio) posted his ninth career double-double logging 14 points and grabbing a game-high 12 rebounds. His 14 points moved him into 20th all-time on the Penn State career scoring charts with 1,062 points. Cornley and Battle both played 37 minutes in the game. They were joined in double-figures by senior Stanley Pringle (Virginia Beach, Va.) who had 12 points and sophomore David Jackson (Farrell, Pa.) chipped in a nice game with nine points and four assists.
"My focus with (Jamelle) is rebounding that basketball at both ends of the floor and I thought he did a good job with that tonight," DeChellis said. "I thought he had a good presence on the floor and he was patient offensively. It was nice to see him with bounce and spring and not in pain. That is very positive and I am so happy for him."
William and Mary, which returned three starters from a 17-16 team that reached the Colonial Tournament final last season, was led by Danny Sumner's 15 points on 3-of-6 shooting from three. He was the only Tribe player in double-figures as Penn State grabbed seven steals, forced the Tribe into 15 turnovers and held William and Mary to 38 percent shooting.
"I thought that our kids did a good job being patient and defensively staying with what we had spoken about," DeChellis said. "We held them to 38 percent from the floor and they are a good shooting team. I thought Stanley did a great job on their number two, David Schneider, which was a key for us. We also did a good job against Sean McCurdy. I think the key for us was trying to take their guards out and we did a decent job defensively of that tonight."
Penn State shot 47 percent for the game and won the rebounding battle 32-27 as they posted their fourth straight season opening win and improved to 83-30 in season opening games all-time. It marked Penn State's sixth straight home win, dating to last season, and 11th straight home win over a non-conference opponent.
The Nittany Lions jumped out to a quick 8-0 lead as Battle buried a couple of threes and Cornley added a bucket in the opening minutes. The Tribe finally got on the board at the 16:40 mark with a Sumner three.
Penn State pushed the margin back to eight following a nice series involving a Pringle drive, kick to Battle and touch pass to Danny Morrissey who buried the three from the corner for a 15-7 lead. Penn State demonstrated quick ball movement throughout the half as they carved up the Tribe's 2-3 zone.
A three from Cornley sparked a 7-0 run that gave Penn State a 22-9 lead midway through the half. A Sumner three cut the margin back to 10, but Battle grabbed a board and went coast-to-coast before dropping a tear-drop from five feet for a 24-12 lead. Battle, whose brother, Taran, and mother, Denise, surprised him at the game, was superb in the first 20 minutes hitting deep shots, creating steals and pushing the ball from end-to-end for easy baskets. His steal and lay-up at the 4:30 mark gave Penn State a 30-16 lead and when the Tribe posted four unanswered to get within nine he hit a jumper and his third three for five straight points to push the lead back to 14, 35-21.
Penn State led 35-24 at the half and out scored the Tribe 10-4 to start the second half to grab its biggest lead of the game, 45-28, with 15:59 to play. Pringle had eight points in the run as he hit a pair of threes and jumper. Penn State held the margin over 14 until the Tribe strung together five straight points to cut the lead to 52-43 with 5:13 to play. A pair of Cornley free throws and a Pringle lay-up quickly had the lead back to 13 and the Lions eventually pushed it to 15 following a three from Jackson and a bucket from Andrew Jones at the 2:14 mark. The Nittany Lions cruised home from there and will now look to continue a stretch of three games in seven days to start the season when they take on NJIT at 7:00 p.m. Monday night in the Jordan Center. That game can be seen live on the Big Ten Network.
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