By Brandan Shorts
To say Penn State controlled the first five minutes of its exhibition opener against Division II Slippery Rock would be an understatement.
The Nittany Lions scored the game’s first 19 points en route to a 81-52 win against The Rock, which lost to Pitt by 11 on Sunday, in front of a crowd of 7623 at the Bryce Jordan Center that grew as the game wore on – mainly to see the Rally in the Valley that followed it.
For the first 5:16, Penn State held the Rock off the scoreboard. The Rock finally scored on a second-chance put-back by Slippery Rock guard Cecil Brown.
The early start set the tone for the rest of the game. Penn State was able to reach deep into its bench. Of the 17 players on the roster, 14 saw time Friday night. The only three who didn’t were walk-ons.
“No offense to Slippery Rock but we wanted to come out and really take them right out of the game from the get-go,” junior guard Talor Battle, who led the Lions in scoring with 16 points, said. “And we joked around that we wanted to be able to rest the last 10 minutes of the game. …
Read it all: Scout.com: Lions Rout The Rock.