Watkins Scores 1,000th Point in 87-58 Victory

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The 23rd-ranked Penn State men's basketball team extended its home winning streak to 12 games with an 87-58 win over Central Connecticut State on Friday, Dec. 20. Senior forward Mike Watkins joined the 1,000-point club during Friday's win as the Nittany Lions improved to 10-2 on the season.  

"I'm really proud of the way the team came out and competed tonight," said Penn State men's basketball coach Patrick Chambers. "I thought we tried to defend, we tried to rebound. I thought we tried to play Penn State basketball. There's a Penn State way and that Penn State way we need to continue to get better and be disciplined in what we do, defensively and offensively…I thought we went good to great…I thought we got great contributions from some different guys, so going into the holiday I'm definitely going to enjoy this one."

Penn State made its first 11 shots including its first five from beyond the arc and grabbed a 29-12 lead just 8:25 into the game. During the Nittany Lions' scoring outburst, Watkins became the 37th Nittany Lion to score 1,000 career points with an empathic alley-oop dunk.

Watkins finished the night with eight points and eight rebounds and added five blocks to his stat line. With his 1,000 career points, he became just the third Nittany Lion in program history (Jesse Arnelle-1952-55 and Mike Lang-1980-83) to score 1,000 points and grab 800 rebounds in a career. He is the 37th Nittany Lion to achieve the 1,000 career-point milestone.

Sophomore guard Myreon Jones paced the Nittany Lions with a game-best 21 point  for his third career game with 20 or more points. He went 8-12 from the field with a perfect 3-3 from 3-point range in the first half added five assists and two steals.

Myreon Jones scored eight of his 11 first-half points in the first 3:46 with baskets from eight different Nittany Lions scoring in the first 20 minutes. Penn State closed the first half at a 61.8 percent clip from the field for a 51-31 halftime lead over the Blue Devils.

Sophomore guard Izaiah Brockington and senior forward Lamar Stevens also finished in double figures with 11 and 10 points, respectively. Junior guard Jamari Wheeler had seven of Penn State's season-high 24 assists.
 
Penn State maintained the double-digit lead throughout the second half as Myreon Jones scored 10 points and junior forward Trent Buttrick eight in the second half. Thirteen Nittany Lions saw action in tonight's game.

Freshman Greg Outlaw scored 14 points to lead Central Connecticut State and junior Stephane Ayangma had nine. The two shared the team lead with six rebounds each.

The Nittany Lions play their final game of 2019 at noon on Sunday, Dec. 29 against Cornell. The game will be broadcast by ESPNU.

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