Nov. 20, 2008
Box Score | Notes | Photo Gallery
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA., Nov. 20, 2008 - Led by the tremendous play of guards Talor Battle (Albany, N.Y.) and Stanley Pringle (Virginia Beach, Va.), a red-hot Penn State tied a team record with 15 three-pointers and gunned down Hartford, 89-64, Thursday night at the Bryce Jordan Center to improve to 3-0 on the year. The win marked the team's eighth consecutive win at home and 13th-straight non-conference home win.
Pringle drained a career-best 6-of-9 three-pointers and was 7-of-10 from the floor on his way to a career-high 23 points to lead all scorers. He added five assists and four rebounds in 35 minutes of high tempo action. His backcourt mate Battle went 3-of-6 from three to post his second 20-point game of the season with 21 on the night. He added a career-high tying six assists and two steals in his 36 minutes of action.
"I think they're playing well off each other," Penn State coach Ed DeChellis said of Pringle and Battle. " I think they know where each guy is going to be now. They feel each other out. We're pretty fast with those two guys back there. I just have to get those two guys...if we can kind of harness that energy and the way we pushed the ball tonight, and try to continually do that. I think we can score some points off them hopefully and have some fun and play how we want to play."
Penn State shot 60 percent from the field and three-point range and 82 percent (14-17) from the free throw line. The Lions' 15-of-25 from the arc in their second game of the Philly Hoop Group Classic, marked their best three-point shooting game since the 2005 season and tied a team record of 15 baskets from behind the arc set in 2001 vs. Purdue in the Jordan Center. Penn State has now shot 28-of-52 (54 percent) from the arc in its last two games.
Penn State also won the battle in the paint on the night outscoring the Hawks 24-14 in the paint led by a big effort from senior Jamelle Cornley (Columbus, Ohio) who posted his 10th career double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds. David Jackson (Farrell, Pa.) added nine points and eight boards as Penn State dominated the glass 33-16 on the night.
"I thought we played well, I really did," DeChellis said. "Early, defensively, we were struggling, but once we got it in a rhythm, I thought we were pretty good and we pushed the ball and got pretty good shots and got some easy baskets and transition. It was good."
Joe Zeglinski led Hartford with 16 points on the night hitting 3-of-9 from three. The teams combined for 28 threes on the night as Hartford's hot first half shooting kept them close for a while. The Hawks made 13-of-32 threes on the night, but managed just 38 percent shooting in the second half as Penn State pulled away.
Five of the games first six field goals were three-pointers and Hartford made six in the first 12 minutes to take a brief 24-23 lead on a three from Morgan Sabia with 7:30 to play.
Penn State retook the lead on a tip-in from Jackson a minute later and built a four-point lead following a Battle three-point play on a lay-up set up by a nice coast-to-coast, defense-splitting drive from Pringle.
Hartford cut the lead to one with yet another three, this one from Michael Turner, and trailed just 30-29 with 4:58 to play following a Sabia lay-up. Penn State seized control from there outscoring the Hawks 17-3 the rest of the half as the Nittany Lions turned up the defense and pushed the ball for easy shots in transition. Danny Morrissey's three from the left baseline in the closing seconds off a nice pass from Pringle set the score at 47-32 at the half.
Penn State shot 64 percent from the floor in the half. Pringle and Battle both played the entire half and produced 26 of Penn State's 47 first half points and six assists.
The Nittany Lions came out roaring in the second half with Pringle and Battle nailing threes within the first five minutes. Jackson's three with 12:21 to play pushed the lead over 20, 65-44, and Penn State kept it above 18 the rest of the way. Freshman Cammeron Woodyard's (Westminster, Md.) three with 3:19 to play tied the team's all-time record. Steve Kirkpatrick's (Carlisle, Pa.) lay-up with 1:41 to play gave Penn State its largest lead of the game, 89-56.
The Nittany Lions return to the Bryce Jordan Center on Sunday when they take on New Hampshire at 2:00 p.m. on the Big Ten Network.
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