Dec. 21, 2009
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; Dec. 21, 2009 - The Nittany Lion basketball team (7-4) will close out its non-conference schedule Monday night at the Bryce Jordan Center when it takes on American University (2-9) in a 5:00 p.m. tipoff. The game will be the first of a double-header night in the BJC with the Lady Lions taking on Oakland at 7:30 p.m. All fan seating for both games will be general admission with one $10 ticket for adults and $5 for youth good for both games.
Monday's game at Penn State can be seen live on the web via BigTenNetwork.com for the single event price of $2.99 by clicking here.
Penn State is coming off just the 20th 100-point game in program history on Saturday as the Nittany Lions rolled past Gardner-Webb 104-57 behind 21 points from Talor Battle (Albany, N.Y.) and six Lions in double-figures. Penn State shot 53 percent from the floor and scored 60 points in the second half as it got career-high nights from freshman Bill Edwards (13) and junior Andrew Ott (12).
The Nittany Lions will look to improve on their 23-2 record vs. non-conference opponents at home and a 35-8 mark overall at home the last three seasons with tonight's game. Battle enters the game averaging 19.0 ppg and as the No. 2 scorer in the Big Ten following his fifth 20-plus point game of the season. He needs just five points tonight to move past Carver Clinton (1964-66) for 17th place all-time on the Penn State career scoring charts and 24 to catch Ron Brown (1972-74) for 16th.
American is coming of a heartbreaking 59-57 loss at home to UMBC on a last-second shot Sunday evening. They had downed DePaul, 62-57, in Chicago in their previous outing. Sunday's game was moved from Saturday due to the massive snowstorm on the East Coast causing the Eagles to play on back-to-back days. The Eagles are led by Vlad Moldoveanu, who made his first appearance as an Eagle this week after transferring from George Mason and averaged 20.0 ppg and 5.5 rpg in his first two career outings. The junior shot a remarkable 50.0 percent from the floor, 41.2 percent from beyond the arc and 87.5 percent from the foul line.
Monday's game will be the first between the Eagles and Nittany Lions since March 2, 1992, when Penn State took a 79-73 victory in Washington. Penn State is 14-1 in the all-time series with American's only victory coming in 1948.
Penn State season basketball tickets, PNC Bank Flex Book plans (10 tickets to use at any game for $99) or single game tickets can be purchased by visiting GoPSUsports.com, Ticketmaster or calling 814-865-5555. Single-game tickets for Nittany Lion games are $18 for lower bowl seating, $15 for upper bowl seating and $7/$5 for youth. Penn State also offers special group ticket rates (15 fans or more) of $10 for adults.
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