Men’s Basketball Sweeps U.S. Regional of Cancun Challenge

 UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State men's basketball team gutted out a 76-61 win over Jacksonville State in the second game of the U.S. Regional of the Cancun Challenge Monday night at the Bryce Jordan Center. Junior forward Lamar Stevens and freshman guard Rasir Bolton each had 25 points in the victory and Stevens had nine rebounds with his second-straight 20-plus point game.
 
"I think last year's past successes and wins really have taught this group how to win, how to find success," said Nittany Lion men's basketball coach Patrick Chambers. "I think that's what you saw in the last five minutes."
 
The Nittany Lions pulled away in the second half after a "rock fight" in the first period, but still held a 37-32 lead at the break as both teams struggled to find an offensive rhythm. The Gamecocks came back to the court for the second half and made their first four shots to tie the game at 39 and then hang around down by only one, 42-41.
 
Freshman Myles Dread converted his own 3-point miss for a field goal and Bolton added a 3-pointer, combined with four misses by Jacksonville State, for a six-point advantage, 47-41.
 
Stevens would score Penn State's next nine-points over 5:30 before the final six minutes witnessed three different Nittany Lions help in extending the lead. Sophomore forward John Harrar started the push with a layup, freshman Myreon Jones added two free throws and Bolton and Reaves combined for 13 points for the final margin.

In the first half, Stevens scored eight of the Nittany Lions' first 10 points and had 14 points by the break. The forward from North Wales, Pennsylvania, played all 40 minutes and led or tied Penn State's team high in points (25), rebounds (9), assists (3), steals (2) and blocks (1).

"Lamar [Stevens] can score on all three levels," Chambers commented. "He can get to the rim, he can hit from the mid-range, which he's got one of the best (shots) in the country, and he's shooting a good clip from the three right now. So it's a luxury to have a workhorse like Lamar out on the floor and he is going to demand so much attention."
 
For Stevens, it was his second-straight 20-plus-point game of the season and third-straight dating back to the National Invitation Tournament championship game where he scored 28 vs. Utah.
 
Josh Reaves finished then night with 11 points and had two steals to move him into a tie with Tom Daly for sixth on the Nittany Lions' career steals list with 176.
 
Jacksonville State had a team-best 17 points from Detrick Mostella and leading scorer Jason Burnell had 14 points and a game-best 12 rebounds. The Gamecocks, despite having a hot hand early in the second half, were 0-8 in a stretch, and finished the game with a 39.7 field goal percentage.
 
Over the last three seasons, and including Monday's game, Penn State is 35-3 when holding an opponent to under 40 percent shooting and picked up its 19th win against only three losses when allowing 69 points or less.
 
Penn State wraps up the U.S. Regional portion of the Cancun Challenge with a 2-0 mark. Following a Thursday, Nov. 15 trip to DePaul for a Gavitt Tipoff game on FS1 at 9 p.m. ET, the team travels to Cancun to face Wright State on Tuesday, Nov. 20 in the Riviera Division bracket.
 
The Nittany Lions return to the BJC for the Big Ten/ACC Challenge vs. Virginia Tech. Single-game tickets for the 13 remaining home games are available for purchase at gopsusports.com/tickets or by calling 1-800-NITTANY weekdays from 8 a.m.-5 p.m.
 
Keep up to date with the latest information from Coach Chambers and the Nittany Lions on Twitter by following @Coach_Chambers and @PennStateMBB, on Facebook and Instagram at @PennStateMBB.