UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Three-point firepower and a 21-7 game-closing run in the final six minutes led the Penn State men's basketball team to a gritty 85-74 come-back victory over previously unbeaten Cornell Monday night inside the Bryce Jordan Center.
Penn State trailed 67-64 with six minutes to play before a trey from senior Jalen Pickett was followed by three more Nittany Lion three-pointers, two from senior Sam Sessoms and one from senior Myles Dread, to comprise a 12-4 streak that turned Penn State's three-point deficit into a five-point lead at the 3:38 mark. The Nittany Lions' free-throw shooting and defense took it from there, as Penn State shot 9-for-10 from the charity stripe in the final three minutes and held the Big Red to a 1-for-8 clip from the field en route to the 85-74 victory.
"I told our guys as we were getting ready for this game that this was going to be a challenge, watching these guys on film and watching how they played," said Peter and Ann Tombros Endowed Head Coach Micah Shrewsberry. "Cornell played at the highest pace in the country going into this game and they got eight transition points and that's kudos to our effort. Our guys focused in terms of how they were going to guard them and I proud of our effort tonight."
Sessoms and junior Seth Lundy accounted for 11 of the Nittany Lions' 15 3-pointers, as Sessoms went 6-7 and Lundy went 5-8 from beyond the arc, respectively.
Lundy finished with a game-high 23 points, his second 20-plus point performance of the season and sixth of his career. He added a season-high seven rebounds plus a block and a steal. Sessoms added 22, all from either beyond the arc or the charity stripe, for his second-straight game with at least 20 points, plus six rebounds, four assists and a steal to stuff the stat sheet.
Senior transfer Jalen Pickett was the third Nittany Lion in double digits with a season-high 15 points, plus six assists, four rebounds, a block and a steal.
Graduate student John Harrar had a game-high 12 rebounds to now record double-digit boards in each game this season.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Lundy had seven of Penn State's nine opening points as it was a slow start for both teams with just a 9-4 score right at the under-16 media timeout.
- The Nittany Lions held onto a lead for the first 10 minutes of the game before Cornell heated up on a 14-0 run with three 3-pointers to take a 25-17 lead at the under-8 media timeout.
- Sessoms went off for all 12 of his first-half points near the end of the first half, going 4-for-4 from beyond the arc to help spark an 8-0 Penn State run to put Penn State up, 41-38, at the break.
- Penn State increased its advantage to eight points at the beginning of the second half before Cornell took off on a 10-0 run of its own to go back up, 48-46, at the under-16 timeout.
- A game of runs would also turn into droughts midway through the second half as it would be a narrow four-point lead the Big Red would hold at the under-8 media timeout with both teams on two-plus minute droughts.
- The Nittany Lions then held Cornell without a field goal for over four minutes and, in the mean time, used the clutch 3-pointers from Pickett, Sessoms and Dread to take a 76-71 lead with just under four minutes remaining.
- Down the stretch, Penn State held Cornell to shoot just 1-for-8 from the field and used clutch free-throw shooting to reach a double-digit, 85-74, victory.
GAME NOTES
- Penn State tied a program record with 15 made 3-pointers. It has happened twice before, against Purdue in 2001 (2/7/01) and again against Hartford in 2008 (11/20/08).
- Penn State held Cornell 13 points below its season average of 87.8.
- Penn State recorded a season-high six blocks after registering just one in the previous three games of the season.
- The Nittany Lions won their fifth-straight game against the Big Red to move to 8-5 in the all-time series.
- Penn State is now 3-0 when playing inside the Bryce Jordan Center this season.
- Senior Sam Sessoms finished 6-for-7 from beyond the arc for the most 3-pointers in a game for a Nittany Lion since teammate Seth Lundy had six at Purdue in the 2019-20 season (2/11/20).
- Sessoms recorded his second-straight 20-point game of the season and 30th of his career.
- Junior Seth Lundy registered his second 20-point game of the season and sixth of his career. Lundy also added a season-high seven rebounds in the contest.
- Graduate student John Harrar recorded his sixth consecutive game with double-digit rebounds dating back to the Big Ten Tournament at the conclusion of the 2020-21 season.
FROM THE SOURCE
Head Coach Micah Shrewsberry
Senior guards Sam Sessoms and Jalen Pickett
UP NEXT
Penn State heads to Niceville, Florida for the rest of Thanksgiving week for two games in the Emerald Coast Classic. The Nittany Lions will first face LSU on Friday, Nov. 26 at 7 p.m. ET live on CBS Sports Network.
The 2021-22 Penn State men's basketball season is presented by Highmark Health.