Category: Uncategorized

Rutgers seeks middle relief:

“It may have come as a shock to more than 6,000 observers in the Rutgers Athletic Center, but Scarlet Knights coach Gary Waters saw last night’s loss to Penn State coming several days ago.

“In a meeting with his coaching staff, Waters spelled out his team’s biggest challenge for this season. The Scarlet Knights had won their first two game of the season, but they did it with a major problem in the middle. “

Penn State 83, Rutgers 80 (phillyBurbs.com):

“Penn State was not ready to cut down the nets, but the Nittany Lions were not about to low-key their upset victory over Rutgers either.

” ‘We’ve just got to make this a normal thing, and not act like we just got into the tournament,’ said Aaron Johnson after collecting 17 points and seven rebounds in Penn State’s 83-80 victory over the Scarlet Knights Wednesday night. ‘If we keep this up, though, we’re going to have a good year.’

“Rutgers entered the game 42-10 at home under coach Gary Waters.

” ‘It was awesome. This is a huge win for our team,’ said freshman guard Mike Walker, who had 15 points and four assists.

” ‘Our first five games were against lower Division I teams, but this is a legit team, we played well on the road, so this is something we can build on.’

“On Nov. 19, the Lions lost guard Ben Luber, who asked to become inactive due to personal reasons. Against Rutgers, guard Marlon Smith, the team’s second leading scorer, sprained his ankle in the third minute and never returned. The duo was Penn State’s starting backcourt last year.

“Freshmen Geary Claxton, Danny Morrissey and Walker picked up the slack with a combined 44 points in 112 minutes.

“‘Unbelievable,’ Johnson said. ‘I just told them, `You guys played like seniors tonight.” “

PSU upsets Rutgers, wins first big game:

“In its first big test of the year, the Penn State men’s basketball team stepped up to the challenge with an impressive 83-80 road victory over Rutgers (2-1) at the Louis Brown Athletic Center in New Jersey.

“The Nittany Lions (4-2) were able to hold on to a slim lead throughout the second half and hit crucial free throws in the final minutes to ensure the victory. Both freshman Geary Claxton and junior transfer Travis Parker took advantage of their opportunities when the Lions needed it most, hitting 5-8 from the foul line in the final 30 seconds.

” ‘I think this is a very important win for us,’ Penn State coach Ed DeChellis said after the game on the Penn State radio network. ‘It gave our players a great feel for what it’s like to win and win on the road, and I’m very, very proud of them. The effort that they put here this evening was just outstanding.’

“The Scarlet Knights were 2-0 heading into the game and coming off a 20-13 record and a NIT Championship game appearance last season.”

State College to Piscataway: 4 hours by car. CDT: that’s too far. – Ed.

Centre Daily Times | Nittany Lions use hot shooting to down Knights:

“PISCATAWAY, N.J. – So much for being intimidated.

“Penn State, led by its three true freshmen, pulled off its biggest victory in almost four years Wednesday, defeating Rutgers 83-80 in a hostile Louis Brown Athletic Center.

“Aaron Johnson and Geary Claxton had 17 points apiece, Mike Walker and Travis Parker 15 apiece and Danny Morrissey, filling in for an injured Marlon Smith, had 12. Penn State won for the fourth time in five games and won in an opponent’s gym for the first time in 11 tries.

” ‘Our young kids just did so well,’ Penn State men’s basketball coach Ed DeChellis said. ‘I told the guys, ‘Remember how this feels. This is the feeling we want to have.””

AP Wire | Penn State 83, Rutgers 80:

“Freshman Geary Claxton scored 10 of his 17 points in the second half, including two decisive foul shots near the end, to help short-handed Penn State to a 83-80 win over Rutgers Wednesday night.

“Penn State (4-2), which has finished last in the Big 10 for three straight years and was picked to do so again this year, won its third straight while giving Rutgers (2-1) its first loss of the season.

“The Nittany Lions played nearly the entire game without guard Marlon Smith, the team’s second-leading scorer, who sprained his ankle in the third minute and never returned. On Nov. 19, the Lions lost guard Ben Luber, who asked to become inactive due to personal reasons.

“Claxton and fellow freshmen Danny Morrissey and Mike Walker picked up the slack with a combined 44 points.

“With Penn State holding an 80-78 lead, Claxton made two foul shots with 8.4 seconds left. After a timeout, Quincy Douby hit a basket for Rutgers with 3.4 seconds remaining.

“Penn State’s Travis Parker, who had 13 of his 15 points after intermission, made one of two with 2.7 seconds left, and Rutgers’ Ricky Shields missed a desperation 70-footer at the buzzer.

“Aaron Johnson had 17 points and seven rebounds for Penn State, while Walker added 15 and Morrissey had 12 and six assists. Shields led Rutgers with 21 points, while Douby had 20.”

PSU ill-equipped for overdue visit to Rutgers:

“For the Penn State Nittany Lions, it’s time to revisit an old memory.

“To be more precise, no one on the current team except for deep subs Dan Adler and John Kelly, and senior bit player Jamaal Tate — all New Jersey natives — probably knows anything about the Rutgers Athletic Center.

“Nor do any of the PSU assistant coaches.

“But Ed DeChellis remembers. The PSU head coach was a young assistant under Bruce Parkhill when the Lions last set foot in the RAC — Feb. 27, 1991.

“It was the Lions’ last regular-season game in the Atlantic 10. No one had much of an inkling the Nits would two weeks later be A-10 tournament champions and headed to their first NCAA tournament in 26 years.

And certainly no one was dreaming such dreams that night. The Lions were drilled 92-70, their worst loss in a 98-game stretch of success from 1989-93.

“This was the last really good team to play at Rutgers — incredibly, the last group of Scarlet Knights to play in the NCAAs. It got so bad that night that big point guard Earl Duncan, a Syracuse transfer noted for his mouth, began talking to Parkhill as he dribbled by — ‘Coach, get someone out here who can guard me!’ “

Centre Daily Times: Nittany Lions face hostile enviroment:

“Marlon Smith remembers his first.

“It was The Pit, a raucous 15,000-seat arena in Albuquerque, N.M. For Penn State’s then-freshman guard, it was overwhelming.

“‘I was so nervous,’ Smith recalled. ‘And that was like my first time ever being nervous in a long, long, long time. That was a tough place to play.’

“You’re not a college basketball player until you’ve faced your first hostile environment, and the current Penn State freshmen will encounter their first at 7:30 tonight when the Nittany Lions (3-2) visit Rutgers (2-0).

“The Louis Brown Athletic Center, more fondly known as ‘The RAC’ is a cozy, 8,000-seat venue in Piscataway, N.J., acoustically similar to Rec Hall, the Nittany Lions’ former home, a place the Big East’s best fear and where young teams can look even younger.

“‘It’ll be a tough environment,’ Penn State men’s basketball coach Ed DeChellis said. ‘I’m going to see how (the freshmen) react and how they respond. The environment we see (tonight) will be very similar, if not even more substantial than the environments we’ll see in the Big Ten.'”

Penn State faces tough test on road:

“The wait is almost over.

“The Penn State men’s basketball team is five games into its season, but the real test begins tonight when the Nittany Lions play Rutgers at the Louis Brown Athletic Center, known as The RAC.

“The better-than-.500 record, three wins, two-game winning streak, forward Aaron Johnson’s double-doubles and the freshmen’s somewhat smooth transitions thus far are irrelevant heading into Penn State’s game against a team that is giant steps ahead of the Lehighs, Sacred Hearts and East Stroudsburgs.

“Rutgers finished 20-13 last season after a loss to Michigan in the NIT Championship Game.

“‘The RAC is a hard place to play, but not any harder than teams we play in the Big Ten, but [the freshmen] get a taste really quickly of what that’s all about,’ Penn State coach Ed DeChellis said. ‘Are they ready for that, I don’t know. We’ll see.'”

Centre Daily Times | 11/29/2004 | Young Lions need consistency:

“Have patience, you long-suffering Penn State basketball fans. Your day is coming.

“It just might not be this week. Or this month. Or this year.

“Home wins over Lehigh and Sacred Heart have revealed a lot about the Nittany Lions, and most of it they would have rather kept on the practice floor. One of the youngest teams in Penn State history is playing like it, and coach Ed DeChellis and his players know improvement must be made — and quickly — if the Nittany Lions are to get where they say they’re going.”

PSU battles back after sluggish first half, defeats Sacred Heart:

“The Penn State men’s basketball team was its own toughest opponent in the first half of Saturday’s game against Div. I Northeast Conference (NEC) Sacred Heart University.

“The Nittany Lions shot a scrappy 25 percent from the field and missed 12 lay-ups before trailing Sacred Heart (1-3) by a point at the half. But Penn State (3-2) responded to a 29-point first-half performance by scoring 40 points and shooting 41 percent from the field in the second half to capture a 69-61 win against the Pioneers.

” ‘We shot 33 percent [from the field for the game],’ Sacred Heart coach Dave Bike said. ‘We were fortunate they shot 31 percent because they kept us in the game.’ “