IS CHATTING DAY 2 OF THE MADNESS
Battle scored 17 first-half points and finished with 27 as the Lions handed Penn a 70-55 defeat at the Bryce Jordan Center in the season opener for both squads.
Although his team was within striking distance in the second half, Penn coach Glen Miller thought his team made too many mistakes.
"Before the game, I talked to our team about all the small things being critical to have a chance against a team like Penn State," Miller said. "The small things are the things you can control - turnovers, going to the foul line. If we want to take a game like this down to the wire, we have to do better in those areas."
Penn turned the ball over 13 times and shot 37.5 percent from the field.
The Quakers (0-1) came out of the gate strong. Junior Tyler Bernardini scored his team's first 10 points as the Quakers grabbed a 10-8 lead. But Bernardini got into foul trouble, and wound up playing only 17 minutes. He cooled considerably in the second half, scoring just two points.
"Our best player played 17 minutes because he had careless fouls. It was just a real lack of discipline," Miller said.
The Quakers had no answer for Battle. The preseason All-Big Ten first-teamer picked up where he left off last season. He all but put the game away when he drove through four Penn defenders and scored to give the Lions a 12-point lead with 4 1/2 minutes to play.
"It was an outstanding performance," Penn State coach Ed DeChellis said. "He got the ball to the rim, made other guys a little bit better. He took the game over when he had to at the end. I thought he was very, very good tonight."
"We didn't have an answer for him, as many teams don't," Miller said.
The early moments of the game saw several lead changes before Penn State grabbed a 13-12 lead on a bucket by Cammeron Woodyard; the Nittany Lions would not trail again.
In the second half, the Quakers trimmed the deficit to 41-38 on a bucket by Rob Belcore, but that was as close as they'd get.
"I thought this game should have come down to a few possessions at the end," Miller said. "It didn't."
Jack Eggleston led the Quakers with 13 points, while Jeff Brooks also reached double figures for the Lions, scoring 10.
Penn connected on 18-of-48 shots from the field, 5-of-23 from beyond the arc. Penn did a solid job on the boards, outrebounded by Penn State by just 32-31. Both teams struggled from the free throw line. Penn shot 63.6 percent (14-of-22), while the Nittany Lions connected on 52.9 percent (9-of-17).
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