The (7-1) Penn State men’s basketball team welcomed the Campbell Fighting Camels to State College on Tuesday night.
The game started out with both teams trading buckets, but PSU’s Kayden Mingo ‘and-1’ made the score 3-2.
Penn State was full court pressing the Fighting Camels, but the team from Buies Creek, North Carolina was handling it well.
The Nittany Lions were playing a clamping man-to-man defense that forced 2 shot clock violations, and at the first media timeout (15:40) it was Penn State 8, Campbell 6. Mingo had 5 of the 8 points for the Blue & White.
Redshirt junior, Freddie Dilione V., had a beautiful drive to the hoop that resulted in an ‘and-1,’ but he missed the free throw. Campbell’s, D.J. Smith, then drilled his second triple of the game and the score was Campbell 14, Penn State 12 at the second media timeout (11:56).
Nittany Lion, Dominick Stewart, picked the pocket of a Fighting Camel and in transition registered an assist to Mingo to make the score Campbell 19, PSU 18.
Campbell called a timeout at the (8:07) mark with the score all locked up at (20-20).
Dominick Stewart was playing really well offensively and defensively; he was everywhere on the court making a difference.
Penn State took the lead (28-25) behind Stewart’s overall play (5:00).
Campbell battled back, though, behind points from D.J. Smith and Mutombo Kalambay to make the score Campbell 33, Penn State 30 with (2:53) to play in the half.
Two steals in the full court press led to 4-straight points for the Blue & White and the Nittany Lions regained the lead 36-33 with (2:25) left until halftime.
Lone senior on the Nittany Lions, Josh Reid, knocked in a three as time expired and the score at the half was the Nittany Lions 46, Fighting Camels 39.
To start the second half, Penn State was turning up the heat, defensively. At the (18:19) point in the first half, Penn State had 11 total steals in the game and converting them into points.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.With (15:00) minutes to play, it was the Nittany Lions 61, Fighting Camels 50.
Campbell was making a run. At the 12:50 mark in the first half, the Fighting Camels cut the lead to nine, 63-54.
PSU’s 7-foot forward, Ivan Juric, then drilled a clutch triple from the top of the key to make the score PSU 66, Campbell 54 (12:09).
Ivan Juric stopped Campbell’s run with a power move to the hoop and with (7:56) minutes left to play in the game, it was the Nittany Lions up by ten, 70-60.
Campbell was not letting up. With Chris Fields, Jr. layup in transition and D.J. Smith’s triple, the Fighting Camels cut the lead to six, 72-66 (4:36).
At the (3:57) media timeout, Penn State was hanging onto their lead with a score of 74-66, with a move to the rack by Penn State’s Juric.
The Nittany Lions were shooting 50.0% from the field and the Fighting Camels 48.1%.
DJ Smith knocked in a three with 3:00 to play to make the score Penn State 74, Campbell 69. PSU’s, Josh Reid, then answered with one of his own. Campbell’s, Jeremiah Williamson-Johnson then answered Reid’s three with one of his own.
With (1:53) to play in the game, it was the Nittany Lions 79, Fighting Camels 74.
Campbell had to start fouling and Penn State was knocking in their foul shots. Penn State 85, Campbell 74 with 45 seconds left in the game.
FINAL SCORE: Penn State 87, Campbell 76.
