Penn State builds, maintains lead in 66-49 win over Rutgers
Penn State head coach Micah Shrewsberry couldn’t make time move any faster.
His Nittany Lions led Rutgers comfortably thanks to a rare offensive spurt midway through the second half. With a consistent defensive effort, the result would follow.
Penn State simply needed to close it out.
“To play like that, it doesn’t feel good,” Shrewsberry said. “You’re just looking at the clock. I’m just looking at it the whole time and the only thing in my mind is like Chris Berman’s tick, tick, tick, tick. I’m just like, come on, baby. Let’s get this thing moving.
“But I thought our guys did a great job of knowing when to attack and knowing when to slow down, run offense, run the clock a little bit.”
Expertly executed, Penn State notched a 66-49 win over the Scarlet Knights in front of 9,063 fans at the Bryce Jordan Center.
Led by a game-high 17 points from Sam Sessoms, the Nittany Lions added double-digit scoring from John Harrar (16 points), Jalen Pickett (15), and Seth Lundy (10) while forward Greg Lee produced 12 rebounds.
More than any individual performance, though, Penn State relied on consistency to earn the win.
Penn State coach Micah Shrewsberry postgame press conference
In a rock fight of a game that saw the Nittany Lions build a 27-19 lead at the half, the second opened to eight minutes of back-and-forth stalemate. But when Ron Harper Jr. knocked home a 3-pointer at the 11:45 mark, the Scarlet Knights pulled to their closest deficit since late in the first half.
Responding in kind, Penn State ripped off an 8-0 run on successive 3-pointers from Lundy and Sessoms. Boosted by a Harrar bucketmidpoint, the Nittany Lions owned their biggest lead of the half.
Not out of the woods, despite a 43-31 lead and a struggling Rutgers’ offense, Shrewsberry picked an approach.
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“That’s when the pressure sets in. Do you keep attacking? Or do you pull the reins back a little bit?” Shrewsberry said. “I want us to keep attacking. We got some stops and we were going in transition.
“Keep doing it. As long as we don’t turn it over, I’m okay with it.”
On a night Penn State committed just four turnovers in the final 10 minutes of action, the plan proved effective.
Fluctuating between a 7- and 14-point lead until the game’s final minutes, a pair of Caleb McConnell made free throws pulled Rutgers to a 56-46 deficit. Having taken the air out of the ball already, the circumstances led Penn State into a late scoring burst. A 10-3 run over the last 2:26, it put the game away.
“At a certain point, we start to put the brakes up. They get the double stop signs. We’re going to run some clock right here,” Shrewsberry said. “It goes back to having two guys (in Pickett and Sessoms) that can handle the basketball and run your offense.
“Now it takes away what they do in terms of how they guard you late. Because if they trap one, throw it to the other, and vice versa. So that’s a challenge. For us to be able to hold that lead was great.”
