Game Grades: Maryland

Story posted March 8, 2021 in CommRadio, Sports by Adam Sheetz

Penn State went on the road and pulled off a comeback for the ages, erasing a 14-point second-half deficit to defeat Maryland 66-61. The Nittany Lions were powered all night by sophomore Seth Lundy, who scored 31 points in the win. Penn State has now won three of its last four games and has a lot of momentum heading into the Big Ten Tournament this week. Let's give out some grades for this performance.

Offense: B

Penn State’s offense struggled early, starting the game with nine straight misses and falling behind 12-0. Then Seth Lundy entered the game and completely changed Penn State’s outlook. Lundy kept the Nittany Lions in the game, scoring 14 of Penn State’s 23 points in the first half.

The second half saw Myreon Jones heat up. The junior scored 14 of his 17 points in the second half. Lundy remained exceptional too, tallying 17 points in the final stanza, including huge buckets in the closing minutes to give Penn State its first lead of the game with 1:14 remaining.

Penn State’s offense has struggled a lot on Sunday, but Lundy’s huge day was enough to give the Nittany Lions their 10th win of the season.

Defense: B

Penn State had a slow start all around, but the defense kept the Nittany Lions in the game.
They forced 13 Terrapins turnovers with many of them leading to transition opportunities for buckets. Penn State also held Maryland to just 28 points in the second half, playing very tough defense against the Terrapins’ star guards.

The Nittany Lions’ ability to defend helped them stay in the game, and gave them the opportunity to overcome a slow start and steal a win in the final minutes.

Coaching: A+

Penn State head coach Jim Ferry inherited a tough situation in October when he had to fill in for Pat Chambers. Ferry coached his best game of the season on Sunday in College Park, keeping Penn State motivated and pushing the right buttons to help the Nittany Lions make key runs in the second half.

Ferry kept the Nittany Lions from quitting, keeping his team alive after the Nittany Lions fell down by double digits multiple times during the game. Penn State could have easily given up and called it a blowout, but the team fought through a lot of tough stretches to get the gritty win over Maryland.

Penn State has won 10 games on the year and will now head into the Big Ten Tournament on Wednesday night to take on Nebraska in Indianapolis.

 

Adam Sheetz is a freshman majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email ads360@psu.edu.

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Adam Sheetz

Junior / Broadcast Journalism

Adam Sheetz is a third year student from Reedsville, Pennsylvania majoring in broadcast journalism. He has been a broadcaster for WCHX 105.5 FM in Mifflin County covering high school sports. He has also been a member of CommRadio since his first semester at Penn State, being involved in both the Arts and Sports departments. Adam has extensive experience in a play-by-play setting within CommRadio, covering football, basketball, baseball, softball, soccer and volleyball for the station. He has done written content for CommRadio ranging from Penn State football articles all the way to discussing Disney Channel movies. To contact Adam, email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).