UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State men’s basketball team used a strong first half to fuel an 86-67 exhibition game victory over Shippensburg Sunday afternoon inside the Bryce Jordan Center.
The Nittany Lions raced out to a 19-0 lead through the first seven minutes of play and never looked back as Penn State owned a 48-19 halftime advantage en route to the 86-67 victory in the final preseason tune-up.
Freddie Dilione V led Penn State with 21 points on 7-of-11 shooting, four rebounds, four assists and two steals. Eli Rice followed with 17 points behind a 4-for-8 showing from 3-point range. Justin Houser added 12 points and four rebounds. Kayden Mingo had seven assists and just one turnover in addition to nine points and two steals. Ivan Jurić pulled down a game-high nine rebounds to go along with seven points.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Nittany Lions raced out to a quick 14-0 lead less than five minutes into the game on the back of eight points from Eli Rice, four from Kayden Mingo and two from Ivan Jurić.
- Rice hit his third 3-pointer of the game at the 13:15 mark to make it 19-0 Nittany Lions and the Penn State defense kept Shippensburg scoreless until the first-half clock wound down to 12:09.
- Rice nailed another triple, his fourth in the first eight minutes of play, at the 12:03 mark to put the score at 22-2 Nittany Lions.
- Penn State’s freshmen combined to score 11 points of a 12-2 run from 11:06 to 7:13 as the Nittany Lion lead ballooned to 34-7.
- Four points from Freddie Dilione V and a Tibor Mirtič tip-in ended the first-half scoring as the Nittany Lions carried a 48-19 lead into the break. Penn State shot 58.1 percent (18-for-31) from the field in the opening term while holding the Raiders to a 24.1 percent (7-for-29) clip with 11 turnovers.
- The Raiders scored 11 of the second half’s first 16 points, trimming the Nittany Lion lead to 53-30 just over four minutes into the term.
- Back-to-back treys from Mason Blackwood and Houser had the Penn State edge back up to 29 at 62-33 three minutes later.
- The Raiders strung together nine-straight points from 13:00 to 10:12 to pull within 20 at 62-42, but it would be as close as Shippensburg would get until the Raiders clawed within 17 in the final minute. Dilione ended the game with a pair of free throws to secure the 86-67 exhibition win for the Nittany Lions.
UP NEXT
- Penn State officially tips off its 130th varsity season at home inside the Bryce Jordan Center on Monday, Nov. 3, as the Nittany Lions take on the Fairfield Stags in a 7 p.m. matchup.