From Start to Finish: Penn State defeats Colorado State 68-56

Story posted November 21, 2022 in CommRadio, Sports by Adam Sheetz

Penn State jumped out to a 13-0 lead in the first seven minutes of the game and never looked back as it defeated Colorado State 68-56.

The Nittany Lions leave Charleston with two wins in the tournament and have a lot to build off of when they return to University Park.

The story of the day was the Penn State defense, which was dominant from the jump. The Blue and White held the Rams to 32.8 percent shooting from the field and 20 percent from behind the arc.

The defense was highlighted in the first seven minutes when they held the Rams scoreless and opened up a 13-point lead. Shrewsberry made his first change to the starting lineup, adding freshman forward Kebba Njie to the lineup.

Njie was impressive in his first start, scoring eight points and grabbing three boards in the win. Njie also hit his first three-pointer of the season early as part of Penn State’s 13-0 run.

Njie was not the only freshman, who impressed, as Evan Mahaffey and Kanye Clary was very impressive in their minutes of play. Mahaffey had some very impressive stretches on both ends, including a hurdle over the Penn State bench to save a loose ball.

Along with Mahaffey, Clary received extended playing time as he logged 11 minutes and scored five points.

Clary was added to Penn State’s closing lineup along with Camren Wynter, Andrew Funk, Jalen Pickett and Seth Lundy.

Along with the freshmen was the bounce-back performance of captains Jalen Pickett and Seth Lundy. Lundy led all scorers with 17 in the win, grabbed eight rebounds and was a very efficient 6-of-10 from the field.

Pickett recorded a double-double in the win, scoring 16 points and 11 rebounds while adding three assists. Pickett continues to stuff the stat sheet for the Nittany Lions at the start of the season.

Pickett and Lundy were praised by Shrewsberry before the season, and their performances against Colorado State were a good showing of what the two captains can bring to the Nittany Lions this year.

Penn State was living by the three this year and had one of their off-days, making a season-low nine three-pointers in the win.

This result may have made the win even more impressive as the Nittany Lions were able to find a way to generate offense against the Rams.

Penn State also had a season-low in assists with seven after entering the game averaging 18.8 assists per game.

Without the assists, the blue and white was able to generate offense off the dribble from guards Jalen Pickett and Camren Wynter, as well as some solid bench production from Kanye Clary.

The Nittany Lions did not look like the team we had seen this year from an offensive production standpoint but were able to find a way to win the game.

Penn State sits at 5-1 on the year and will look to continue its hot start to 2022-23 when it hosts Lafayette on Friday at 7 p.m.

Adam Sheetz is a junior 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).