The Penn State men’s basketball team mounted a strong finish to beat Le Moyne 72-55 in the Bryce Jordan Center on Thursday. The Nittany Lions led early in the game and held on to a 17-point win at the end.
Sophomore Kanye Clary led the way with 20 points, six assists, and five rebounds. On the offensive, junior Nick Kern Jr. tied his season-high with eight rebounds. The Nittany Lions finished the game with 11 threes, while Le Moyne had three 3-pointers.
The game went off to a strong start with the Nittany Lions taking a 12-9 lead at the 15:34 mark. After a triple from RayQuawndis Mitchell at the 6:27 mark, the Nittany Lions led as much as 21 points before a 14-5 run to close the opening half.
The Nittany Lions only had eight shots to beat Le Moyne, but they were able to hold the Dolphins colorless for three and a half minutes to pull ahead 55-38 with 11:02 to play. Le Moyne went 3-for-3 from deep over the next 3:24 to trim the Nittany Lion lead to 10 at 59-49 with 7:38 left on the clock. The Dolphins would pull as close as nine at 6:09, but Penn State pulled away from there.
The Nittany Lions spent the final 5:12 of the game on a 12-4 run with the help of four points from Clary and four from Nick Kern Jr. as the Nittany Lions accelerated for the 72-55 win. The Nittany Lions improves to 6-1 at home in the Bryce Jordan Center this season.