Baldwin Jr. Scores 1,000th Career Point in Dominant 90-63 Win over RiderBaldwin Jr. Scores 1,000th Career Point in Dominant 90-63 Win over Rider
Caleb Craig

Baldwin Jr. Scores 1,000th Career Point in Dominant 90-63 Win over Rider

Box Score

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State men's basketball team closed out the non-conference portion of its 2023-24 schedule with a 90-63 victory over the Rider Broncs Friday afternoon inside the Bryce Jordan Center.
 
Penn State tallied a season-high 90 points in the resounding win over Rider, with four Nittany Lions cracking the double-digit scoring mark. Sophomore Kanye Clary led the way with 29 points on 12-of-16 shooting with a 2-for-3 mark from 3-point land. The Virginia Beach, Virginia, native surpassed his career high in the contest, outpacing a 28-point performance against Butler on Nov. 24 of this season.
 
Senior guard Ace Baldwin Jr. cracked the 1,000 career point mark at the charity stripe with 19.7 seconds remaining in the first half. Baldwin Jr. added a season-high nine assists in the win over the Broncs, surpassing his previous season high of seven set against Georgia Tech on Dec. 16. Junior guard D'Marco Dunn poured in 12 points in the game on 50 percent shooting from the field with seven made free throws, while senior guard Puff Johnson notched his third game in double figures this season with 10 points.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

  • A sluggish opening minute impacted by multiple offensive rebounds on both ends saw Penn State open the scoring with a putback layup from Qudus Wahab. Clary connected on an athletic and-one layup on the next offensive trip and PSU booked a 7-2 advantage at the first media timeout.
  • PSU utilized an acrobatic layup from Dunn and a right corner 3-pointer from Leo O'Boyle to force Rider into a timeout with the Nittany Lions leading by a 13-4 margin at the 13:05 mark of the opening half.
  • The swarming Nittany Lion defense forced a trio of turnovers that PSU converted into a trio of buckets, with Johnson punctuating a 6-0 run with a steal and score at the 8:20 mark to make it 21-6 in Penn State's favor.
  • RayQuawndis Mitchell added to the damage out of a Rider timeout with a left corner-triple and fastbreak layup to concoct a personal 5-0 run within a larger 11-0 Nittany Lion stretch. PSU led by a 20-point tally, 26-6, with six minutes to play in the first half.
  • Multiple Penn State steals were converted into points, as the Blue & White utilized a 9-0 run over a span of 1:44 highlighted by a pair of fastbreak layups from Clary. Both squads traded buckets the rest of the half, culminating in a 44-24 Nittany Lion lead at the halftime break.
  • Rider came out of the intermission with an attacking mindset, scoring the first three points of the second half, but a left corner 3-pointer from Zach Hicks stymied the early Bronc momentum. Both teams exchanged baskets over the next few minutes, with neither squad able to establish a sustained run.
  • Penn State constructed a 57-39 lead with 13:30 to play after Favour Aire sank his first bucket as a Nittany Lion on a feed from Baldwin Jr.
  • A buzzer-beating mid-range jumper from Clary on the right wing with 8:58 remaining gave PSU a 68-51 advantage, and multiple trips to the free throw line saw the Nittany Lions preserve their double-digit lead following the under-8 media timeout.
  • Back-to-back trips to the line from Baldwin Jr. and Dunn sparked an 18-2 Nittany Lion run that gave Penn State its largest lead of the contest at 86-58. Penn State's dominant afternoon came to a close with the Nittany Lions registering a resounding 90-63 home win.

 
GAME NOTES

  • Penn State improved to 7-1 inside the Bryce Jordan Center this season.
  • The Nittany Lions wrap up their non-conference slate with a 6-5 mark against out-of-conference foes.
  • Penn State recorded a season-high 90 points against Rider. The Blue & White recorded 90 points or more in a game for the first time since booking a 93-81 home win over Illinois Feb. 14, 2023.
  • Sophomore guard Kanye Clary registered his seventh 20-point outing in the 2023-24 campaign and his third consecutive, finishing the game with 29 points on 12-for-16 shooting from the field with a pair of 3-point makes.
  • Clary surpassed his career high in scoring in the game, outpacing a 28-point performance against Butler on Nov. 24 of this season during the ESPN Events Invitational.
  • Senior guard Ace Baldwin Jr. scored his 1,000th career point with 19.7 seconds remaining in the first half. The Baltimore native hit a free throw at the charity stripe to reach the milestone. Baldwin Jr. finished with 10 points in the contest, his 10th double-digit scoring performance in 13 games played.
  • Baldwin Jr. also dished out a season-high nine assists in the win, surpassing his previous season high of seven set against Georgia Tech inside Madison Square Garden on Dec. 16.
  • Sophomore forward Favour Aire made his Penn State debut and played four minutes in the game, recording his first basket as a Nittany Lion with 13:30 to play in the second half. Aire added a rebound and a steal in his limited action.
  • Senior Dan Conlan scored his first points as a Nittany Lion with a pair of free throws with 33 seconds to play.

HIGHLIGHTS 


UP NEXT

  • Big Ten play begins in earnest next week when Penn State travels to Michigan State on Jan. 4 for a 7 p.m. tipoff on Peacock. The Nittany Lions are 1-1 in Big Ten play heading into January.

 
The 2023-24 Penn State men's basketball season is presented by Highmark Health.