Sacred Heart University Department of Athletics
Penn State
Pioneers Lose at Penn State, 73-65
12/23/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 23, 2008
STATE COLLEGE, PA - The Sacred Heart men's basketball team took a trip to Happy Valley Tuesday night to take on a 10-2 Penn State team and nearly made it an unhappy Christmas for the Nittany Lions. The Pioneers gave the Big Ten team all it could handle down the stretch, before falling 73-65.
Things didn't start well for the Pioneers, falling behind 24-5 in the opening minutes, thanks to some hot Nittany Lion shooting. The Pioneers managed to cut it to nine at 28-19 on a trey by junior Corey Hassan. Hassan drained 13 points in 12 minutes off the bench to help keep SHU in the game.
Penn State still led 44-28 at the intermission, taking advantage of 11 SHU turnovers in the half.
The Nittany Lions again pushed the lead to 19 in the first five minutes of the second half but the pesky Pioneers kept the pressure on. They cut it to eight with 3:07 left on a three from freshman Shane Gibson.
After forcing Penn State into a turnover, Chauncey Hardy made it a six-point game at 68-62 with a fastbreak layup. A Ryan Litke three cut the lead to three with :50 left at 68-65.
Talor Battle put the Pioneers away with a three-point play on a drive to the basket with :18 left that made it 71-65 enroute to the 73-65 final.
The Pioneers took better care of the basketball in the second half, turning the ball over just six times - three of those, however, came in the final three minutes.
"Turnovers are killers and it shows you we can be very competitive with a little flow," said head coach Dave Bike. "It came back to to bite us a little in the end."
Battle led the Nittany Lions with 25 points, 20 of those coming in the first half. Stanley Pringle finished with 15 and Jamelle Cornley ended with 13.
Hassan led the Pioneers with 17 points, while Hardy had 11 in the second half to finish with 13. Senior Joey Henley had six rebounds in the game and is now one of three Sacred Heart players in Division I to reach the 1000-point, 500-rebound mark.
