Jan. 17, 2009
BLOOMINGTON, IND., Jan. 17, 2009 - The Nittany Lion basketball team took the lead from the start and never relinquished it in posting a 65-55 victory at Indiana (5-12; 05 Big Ten) on Saturday. The victory, Penn State's first ever in 16 trips to Assembly Hall, improved the Lions to 14-5, 3-3 in the Big Ten as they return home for a two-game home stand starting Tuesday vs. Michigan.
Stanley Pringle posted 19 points, six assists, four boards and two steals and didn't have a turnover in 33 minutes. He had a big three to answer a late IU run in the final two minutes. Jamelle Cornley added 17 and Talor Battle 12 in helping the Lions to commit just eight turnovers in a hostile arena.
Devan Dumes led Indiana with 13 points, while Tom Pritchard had 12 and Nick Williams 10.
Penn State built as much as a 14-point first half lead as Indiana struggled shooting 28 percent and the Lions hit at a 52 percent clip in the half. Penn State finished hitting 46 percent for the game and got 17 points off of 15 IU turnovers. Indiana warmed up in the second half and got within four points with 40 seconds remaining, but shot 37 percent for the game and 3-of-15 from three.
Indiana was scoreless for the first three and half minutes of action as Penn State jumped to a 6-0 lead. A Cornley three pushed the Lion lead to 9-2 and Battle buried a three to bring the lead to nine, 14-5, with 13:15 to play and prompting and Indiana timeout.
Another Cornley jumper pushed the lead to 10, 16-6, before Dumes answered with a three for IU. Danny Morrissey answered with a top of the key three for Penn State to push the lead back to 19-9. Six Penn State players scored in the first 11 minutes of the game as the Nittany Lions had everyone involved against Indiana's zone defense and used some full court pressing of their own to help force seven first half IU turnovers.
Stanley Pringle buried a baseline three and Morrissey followed with a pump fake and 19-foot jumper to build a 13-point margin, 24-11, and force another IU timeout with 9:30 to play.
An Andrew Ott free throw made it 27-13 before the Lions suffered a five minute scoreless drought as they turned the ball over on several walking calls. Indiana worked its way back using a 6-0 run to cut the lead to 27-19. Cornley broke the drought for the Lions hitting a fade away jumper off the block to put PSU up 29-19. Pringle added a pair of free throws the push the margin back to 12, but IU would score the last four points of the half.
Penn State had an alley-oop from Battle to Cornley broken up and Dumes converted a three-point play on the other end and IU trailed by just eight, 31-23, at the half. Pringle led the Lions with 10 first half points while Pritchard had 10 for IU.
Penn State led by as many as 10 on four occasions in the second half, but a late IU surge made it interesting late. Back-to-back threes by Matt Roth got IU within six, 59-53, with 51 seconds to play and a Dumes lay-up after a PSU turnover cut the margin to four, 59-55, just second later.
Indiana fouled Morrissey and the senior calmly sank a pair. Roth missed a three on the other end and Battle hit one of two at the line to build the lead back to seven with 21 seconds to play. IU turned it over on their next possession and Pringle drained a pair at the line to put the game on ice with 16 seconds to go.
Penn State will return to the Bryce Jordan Center for a two-game home stand starting Tuesday night when it takes on No. 24 Michigan in a 9:00 p.m. tip on the Big Ten Network. It is a "THON Score For The Four" game with all proceeds from single