Dec. 23, 2008
University Park, Pa., Dec. 23, 2008 - Behind yet another superlative performance from sophomore point-guard Talor Battle (Albany, N.Y.), Penn State jumped out to a comfortable lead against Sacred Heart and then held on for a 73-65 victory Tuesday night in the Bryce Jordan Center.
Looking to head home for the holidays, Penn State nearly went on vacation to soon as a 19-point lead nearly evaporated before the Lions went on to wrap up their non-conference slate with a sterling 11-2 mark. The win continued the Lions' best start since the 1995-96 season and bettered their previous high win total entering Big Ten play by two.
"I thought they were ready to play. I thought that was important," Penn State coach Ed DeChellis said. "They came out of the gate; they played well, played well the first half. We just forgot there was another half and we lacked some focus, but that's kids. That's this time of the year. If you are not ready to play at this time of the year, because you're thinking of other things, you can get stung. So, we came out ready to play, we just didn't finish it off."
Penn State will put that record to the test on New Year's Eve Day when they open the Big Ten season with a noon tip-off in the Jordan Center vs. Northwestern live on ESPN2.
"I don't think there's a bad team in the league," DeChellis said. "I think everybody is good. I think the league will be fun and challenging, and I think we'll be part of it. I think we will get some things straightened out here when we get back and it'll be a different kind of focus for league play. I think we will be a team, hopefully that will continue to get better and we will have some fun in the league as well."
Penn State's big three, all ranked in the top 10 in the Big Ten in scoring, were at it again. Battle made his first three, three-point attempts of the game and shot 6-of-7 from the floor in the first half to record his sixth 20-point outing of the season with 20 first half points. He scored five in the second half and ended the game with 25 points and five rebounds. Stanley Pringle (Virginia Beach, Va.) chipped in 15 points and five assists and Jamelle Cornley (Columbus, Ohio) had 13 points and nine boards.
Sacred Heart was led by 17 points from Corey Hassan and 13 from Chauncey Hardy as the Pioneers dropped their third straight game and fell to 3-6 on the year.
Penn State had a season-high 10 steals in the game and shot 46 percent from the floor. Sacred Heart committed 17 turnovers, but nearly came back shooting 51 percent in the second half and out-rebounding Penn State 36-31.
"I thought in the end, in the last minute, Andrew Jones made a great hustle play, Talor made a great hustle play to secure the thing and made some free throws when we had to, to win the game," DeChellis said.
The Nittany Lions came out sharp and picked up right where it left off after a 60 percent shooting performance in a victory over Lafayette on Sunday. Penn State hit four of its first five from three and shot 62 percent from the floor in the opening five minutes to leap out to a 17-4 lead and force a Sacred Heart timeout with 14:49 to play.
Battle was the main instigator as he went 3-of-3 from long range and completed a four-point play, after being fouled on the last of the treys, for 10 points right out of the gate. Battle reached his 17th straight double-figure scoring game in all of five minutes.
The Lions kept the hot shooting going as Pringle got into the act with a pair of long threes and a jumper in the lane. When Pringle pushed the ball off a Sacred Heart miss and fed a trailing Cornley for a one-handed jam down the lane, the Lions led 24-5 with just over 13 minutes to play in the half.
Sacred Heart eventually came to life as Hassan buried a pair of threes and ran off eight straight points for the Pioneers. After Ryan Litke dropped a 30-foot trey and Hassan followed with his third trey of the half, the Pioneers were within nine, 28-19.
Battle responded with his fourth three of the half, but Hassan kept coming dropping an 18-footer on the other end. With eight minutes to play in the half Battle had 17 for Penn State and Hassan 13 for Sacred Heart and Penn State led 33-21.
Cammeron Woodyard got some early playing time and buried a baseline three over a defender. When he pulled a defensive rebound and kicked it ahead to Battle, the Lions point-guard claimed his 20th point of the half on just seven shots and put Penn State up 41-25 with four minutes to play. The Lions took a 44-29 lead to the locker room.
The Lions looked like they would rather be headed home than back to the floor for another 20 minutes much of the second half as Sacred Heart outscored them 37-29 and got within three points with 51 seconds to play.
Penn State extended its lead to 19 on three occasions in the half, but Sacred Heart wouldn't surrender and the Pioneers used a 12-2 run over four minutes to cut a 58-39 lead to 60-51 with 8:02 to play.
Out of a media timeout, Cornley reestablished control with a jumper, Battle added a pair of free throws and Pringle made a driving lay-up to put the Lions back up 13. However, it was nearly all Pioneers from there as they went on a 14-2 run fueled by a full-court press that gave the Lions fits.
The Pioneers closed the run scoring eight straight as Shane Gibson nailed a three, Hardy got a lay-up off a steal in the press and Ryan Litke drained a three. Suddenly, Penn State found itself up just three, 68-65, with 51 seconds to play.
Battle stepped to the front driving the ball from the right wing and hitting the lay-up while getting fouled. He knocked in the free throw and Penn State was safely up six, 71-65, with 19 seconds to play. Pringle knocked in a couple of free throws to seal the deal and Penn State headed home for the holidays.
The Nittany Lions will open their 17th season of Big Ten play on Dec. 31 when they take on Northwestern. The Big Ten currently is ranked No. 2 among conferences in the RPI, has five teams ranked in the AP Top 25 and leads the nation having defeated three top five ranked teams.