Penn State wins Defensive Battle, Beats Maryland 55-50
The Penn State offense mostly relies on a heavy barrage of 3-pointers from Myreon Jones. If those don’t fall, then maybe John Harrar and Seth Lundy can pick the offense up in the post.
If not, then Myles Dread and Sam Sessoms can provide a spark off the bench. But when none of that works, it normally results in a loss.
Not in this game.
The Nittany Lion offense started out with just seven points in the first 12 minutes of the game. This comes despite the Terps turning the ball over constantly, as they had six turnovers during that 12-minute stretch alone.
That stretch led to the worst first half for Penn state this season, as it finished with just 23 points. Luckily for the Nittany Lions, Maryland only had 23 points also.
While Penn State would get into a minor rhythm in the second half, the points didn’t come easily. The Nittany Lions were off from beyond the arc all night, as they only made five 3-pointers while taking 22 of them.
Of those five, three of them came from Jamari Wheeler, who only had made more than three shots from deep this season once. That came in the team’s season opener against VMI.
Wheeler was just one of two double-digit scorers for Penn State, as Izaiah Brockington led the team with 13 points.
While Wheeler had success, the same can’t be said for the team’s leading scorer this season in Jones. Jones only scored two points in the team’s win and missed on all four of the 3-pointers he took.
It was a similar story for Seth Lundy, the team's third leading scorer ,as he also finished with just two points while missing all six of his 3-pointers.
A majority of Penn State’s points in the second half came from the charity stripe. While the Terps managed to keep the Nittany Lions off of the free throw line in the entire first half, they didn’t have that same luck after the break.
The Nittany Lions got 16 of their 32 first half points at the line, only missing on two attempts.
The game was a tough fight until the very end and Penn State head coach Jim Ferry knew it.
“They gutted out a really tough win,” Ferry said. “It was a rock fight for a while, but we let the offense come and happen, it was a great team win when things weren’t going well.”
The Nittany Lions will now be given a few days to rest before traveling to East Lansing to take on Michigan State on Tuesday.
Logan Bourandas is a sophomore majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him email lxb5412@psu.edu.
