UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – A dominant defensive effort helped the Penn State men's basketball team scorch red-hot Rutgers Tuesday night inside the Bryce Jordan Center as the Nittany Lions earned a wire-to-wire 66-49 victory over the Scarlet Knights for Penn State's third win in the last four games.
The Nittany Lions snapped Rutgers' four-game winning streak as the Penn State defense held the visitors 21 points below their season scoring average of 70.4 ppg.
Four Nittany Lions scored in double figures, led 17 points from senior Sam Sessoms who also scored the 1,500th point of his career in the process. Sessoms shot a blistering 70 percent (7-for-10) from the field and a perfect 3-for-3 from beyond the arc, while also adding six assists and three rebounds.
Graduate student John Harrar contributed 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting, while senior Jalen Pickett recorded 15 points for his seventh-straight contest in double figures. Junior Seth Lundy rounded out the scoring with 10 points, four rebounds, one block and a game-high three steals.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- It was a slow start for both teams with just a 4-2 scoreline in favor of the Nittany Lions at the first media timeout of the contest.
- Penn State then went on a 17-4 run over a seven-minute span to take a convincing 21-8 lead and force Rutgers to call timeout with 8:13 remaining in the opening stanza.
- The Scarlet Knights were able to go on a 11-2 run out of their called timeout to crawl back within four, 23-19, before back-to-back points from Pickett and Sessoms and a scoring drought from the visitors kept the Nittany Lions ahead at the break, 27-19.
- It was a back-and-forth first part of the second half with nearly identical scores in the stanza through the under-8 media timeout to keep Penn State ahead by nine, 45-36.
- The Nittany Lions made 4-of-5 field goals over a two-minute span to take their largest lead of the game, 53-39, with just under five minutes left in regulation.
- Penn State closed the game with consistent play on both sides of the ball and points from the charity stripe, including an 10-3 run in the final two minutes, for the 66-49 victory.
GAME NOTES
- The Penn State defense held Rutgers to just 19 points in the first half, the second time this season holding an opponent under 20 points in a half after limiting Oregon State to 17 points in the first half during Thanksgiving week in Florida (11/27/21).
- It marks the first time the Nittany Lions have held a Big Ten opponent under 20 points in a half since also doing so against Rutgers in Piscataway during the 2018-19 season (19 points in first half; 3/6/19).
- The 49 total points for Rutgers also marks the first time Penn State has held a Big Ten opponent under 50 points in regulation since holding Indiana to 49 during the 2019-20 season (1/29/20).
- The defense also held the Scarlet Knights 21 points below their season scoring average of 70.4. Penn State has now held eight of its last 11 opponents at least 10 points below their season scoring average.
- Junior Seth Lundy was tasked with guarding Rutgers' leading scorer Ron Harper Jr., and Lundy and the Nittany Lion defense held Harper Jr. to just seven points – well below his season average of 16.3 ppg.
- Senior Sam Sessoms reached the 1,500 career-point mark with a 3-pointer in the first half.
- Sessoms scored in double figures for the ninth time this season, finishing with a game-high 17 points and shooting a blistering 70 percent (7-10) from the field, including a perfect 3-for-3 beyond the arc.
- Senior Jalen Pickett recorded double-digit points for the seventh-straight contest and 10th time in the last 11 games with 15.
- Senior Greg Lee finished with a game-high 12 rebounds, his first double-digit rebound mark as a Nittany Lion.
- Graduate student John Harrar notched his eighth double-digit scoring effort of the season, tying his season high of 16 points for the third time this season.
- Junior Jevonnie Scott made his Penn State debut off the bench in the first half. He scored his first points as a Nittany Lion in the second half.
FROM THE SOURCE
Head Coach Micah Shrewsberry
Sam Sessoms and John Harrar
UP NEXT
- Penn State is back on the road Sunday to take on No. 16 Ohio State. Tipoff is set for noon from Columbus and the game will air nationally on the Big Ten Network.
The 2021-22 Penn State men's basketball season is presented by Highmark Health.