Nov. 26, 2013
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Graduate guards Tim Frazier (Houston, Texas) and Allen Roberts (Middletown, Ohio) combined for 36 points on Tuesday night to lead the Penn State men's basketball team past Monmouth (N.J.), 84-52, in the Barclays Center Classic, presented by Continental Tire, at the Bryce Jordan Center. Frazier posted a game-high 19 points and Roberts notched a season-high 17 points in the victory.\
Frazier also turned in seven boards and seven assists in the win, moving his career assists total to 503. He remains in fourth place in the Penn State career assists ledger but is closing in on Talor Battle, who sits in third place with 517 helpers.
D.J. Newbill (Philadelphia, Pa.) just missed out on a double-double, recording 15 points and nine rebounds while Ross Travis (Chaska, Minn.) turned in 11 points and four boards. Freshman Graham Woodward (Edina, Minn.) nearly entered double-figures, contributing eight points in the victory.
Penn State improves to 5-1 on the season and has won four- consecutive contests while Monmouth drops to 1-4 this year. The Nittany Lions shot 53.8 percent (28-of-52) from the field, 37.5 percent (9-of-24) from three-point range and 79.2 percent (19-of-24) from the free throw line. PSU out-rebounded the Hawks 35-21 and forced 16 Monmouth turnovers.
Monmouth shot just 35.6 percent (16-of-45) from the floor and 26.3 percent (5-of-19) from beyond the arc. Josh James led the Hawks in scoring, knocking down four-of seven shots and three free throws for a total of 12 points and Tyrone O'Garro pulled down a team-high seven rebounds.
The Lions and the Hawks went back and forth at the start of the contest before Penn State jumped out to a seven-point lead five minutes into the game. Travis tallied the first basket of the night, a jumper off of a fast break, Newbill posted five points and Donovon Jack (Reading, Pa.) and Roberts tacked on three apiece to put the Blue and White up 13-6.
Monmouth cut the deficit to four points less than two minutes later on a free throw and a jumper from James but the Lions forged ahead, drawing the lead out to eight after Roberts sank a pair of free throws and Frazier knocked down a jumper to put the count at 17-9.
The Hawks came within four a few more times but were never able to fully close the gap as PSU headed into the locker room with a 40-30 advantage.
The Nittany Lions came out hot after the break, opening up the half with an 18-3 scoring streak. Monmouth tallied three points to start the second half but would not score again until James notched a free throw at the 12:44 mark. Frazier led the charge with six points during the run while Travis tallied five, Newbill and Woodward posted three and Alan Wisniewski (Sterling Heights, Mich.) turned in a layup to put Penn State up 58-33.
Monmouth managed to tack on eight points before another streak of 13 unanswered points gave Penn State its largest lead of the game at 79-41 with just under five minutes remaining. The Hawks put up 11 more points before all was said and done but could not catch up with the Nittany Lions as they registered five additional points to put the final count at 84-52.
Penn State travels to Brooklyn, N.Y. this weekend for its final two games of the Barclay's Center Classic, presented by Continental Tire. The Lions are set to face St. John's Friday at 7 p.m. and will take on either Georgia Tech or Mississippi on Saturday at either 2 or 4:30 p.m. The game Friday will be streamed on barclayscenter.com with the match ups Saturday slated for NBC Sports Network.