Penn State dominates Princeton

Last night's trip to Happy Valley, Pa., was anything but enjoyable for the men's basketball team, as it continued its skid with a 61-38 loss to Penn State.

While the Tigers (2-7) may have scored the first two points in their game against the Nittany Lions (4-4), Princeton could not recover from the combination of a 10-minute dry spell and an apathetic second-half performance. An explosive performance by Penn State's Geary Claxton sealed the victory for the Nittany Lions.

"Penn State did a nice job adjusting to our zone looks, and we didn't make it hard enough for them to score in the second half," head coach Sydney Johnson '97 said. "That's a little disappointing because I thought our effort there was real good in the first half."

Princeton's top scorer, sophomore center Zach Finley, opened the game with the left-handed hook shot that is quickly becoming his signature move. Penn State's Jamelle Cornley answered with a layup of his own. The Lions set a precedent in the early minutes of the game, keeping the Tigers at two points for the first five minutes.

With 10 minutes, 35 seconds left in the half, sophomore guard Lincoln Gunn tied the game at nine with the Tigers' first three-point shot of the evening. Gunn snapped the Tigers' three-point miss streak, which had extended to seven.

Gunn's effort would be the second-to-last successful attempt for the Tigers, as Penn State's physical man-to-man defense and Princeton's inability to sink three-point shots resulted in a 14-point run by the Nittany Lions.

Sophomore guard Nick Lake attempted to give the Tigers some momentum going into the break with a layup in the final minute of the half, but Mike Walker nailed Penn State's first three of the game with only three seconds left in the half to make the score 26-11.

"It's never good to see 11 points on the scoreboard in any half, but Penn State did a good job defensively and we didn't make enough of the good opportunities that we got," Finley said. "All of us can take advantage of our opportunities, big guys and perimeter guys, to open up the game for all of us."

Poor shooting plagued both teams through the first half, as Princeton shot only 20 percent from the field with just one three-pointer. Penn State fared only slightly better, making 11 of its 31 shots.

As the second half opened, Penn State had difficulty guarding Finley, who led Princeton with 14 points. The Tigers were most successful when they found Finley on the post for a hook shot.

Gunn followed Finley with 13, including his three-point shot. Senior forwards and co-captains Noah Savage and Kyle Koncz struggled throughout the game. Savage was held completely scoreless and Koncz took most of the game to knock down his only three-pointer on nine attempts. Finley and Gunn combined for 20 of the Tigers' 25 second-half points.

"I know Kyle Koncz is struggling right now, but he's doing lots of other things on the court that are good for us," Johnson said. "I think he will relax a little bit and get back to being the kind of shooter he can be."

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The second half saw improvement in shooting from both teams. For the Nittany Lions, Claxton was nearly unstoppable both driving through the paint and dropping shots from the outside. His only weakness was on the free-throw line, where he missed both of his attempts. Claxton notched both his 22nd double-double and 20-point-plus game.

"Good luck to the Big 10 in guarding Claxton, he's a heck of a player," Johnson said. "He can score inside, get second-chance baskets and do everything on the court."

Many of Claxton's field goals came off turnovers. Losing the turnover battle 17-9, the Tigers handed Penn State 25 points, while only converting eight themselves.

"It's been two tough first halves for us the last two games, but I don't think that's going to be a trend," Finley said. "We're getting open looks and our stuff is hard to guard, now we just need to take advantage of those looks."

If Princeton is to compete, the Tigers will need to clean up their shooting game, as Finley's inside game can't be expected to dig them out of 23-point deficits.