Winthrop Falls In Season Opener At Penn State

University Park, Pa. – Kelton Talford and Toneari Lane combined for 35 points as Winthrop men’s basketball opened the season with a 93-68 loss at Penn State, Monday evening.

WINTHROP (0-1, 0-0 Big South)
STAT LEADERS
Kelton Talford (18 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block)
Toneari Lane (17 points, 1 steal)
Cory Hightower (15 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals)
PENN STATE (1-0, 0-0 Big Ten)
STAT LEADERS
Jalen Pickett (23 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 blocks, 1 steal)
Andrew Funk (2 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals)
Seth Lundy (10 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block, 1 steal)
FIRST HALF
After the teams went the first two minutes without a basket, Jalen Pickett scored the first points to give Penn State the first lead
Sin’Cere McMahon came right down and drilled a deep straight away three for the first Winthrop lead
After back-to-back turnovers by each team, Pickett hit a three for a 5-3 advantage only to have Kelton Talford tie the game at 5-5 by knocking down two free throws
Trailing 10-5 the Eagles used good ball movement that ended with a corner three from Cory Hightower
Myles Dread answered with a corner three of his own but Isaiah Wilson came back and knocked down a floater to keep it a one possession game
Trailing 19-13, Hightower drained a three in transition only to have Dread respond with another triple
This time Hightower came right back with a straight away three to cut the deficit to 22-19 with 9:23 left
Nittany Lions responded with a 9-2 run to open up a double-digit lead at 31-21 with 7:01 left in the first half
Back-to-back buckets from Talford cut the deficit to six points, but a 5-0 spurt highlighted by a three from Dread on the backend had the Nittany Lions on top 36-25 with 4:22 remaining in the half
The run extended to 11-0 after consecutive threes from Andrew Funk as Penn State pushed its lead to 42-25
Toneari Lane put an end to the run with a triple out of a timeout with 2:36 left in the half
Behind nine threes the Nittany Lions led 44-32 at the break
Penn State shot 55 percent from the floor while the Eagles hit 46 percent from the field
SECOND HALF
Penn State opened the second half with a three from Funk that started an 8-0 run, pushing the lead to 57-37
Trailing by 21, Chase Claxton hit two free throws with 11:47 to play
That started an 8-0 run to cut the deficit to 13 at 66-53 with 10:04 remaining
Caleb Dorsey drilled a three to halt the run but McMahon answered right back with three to cut to 13 again
Nittany Lions responded with a 7-0 run to push the lead back to 20 at 76-56 with 7:18 remaining
Penn State shot 55 percent in the second half while the Eagles finished at 44 percent
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Penn State hit nine threes in each half and finished the game 18-for-38 behind the arc
Nittany Lions finished shooting 55 percent for the game, 47 percent from three
Eagles shot 45 percent from the floor, 44 percent from three and were 13-of-14 at the foul line
Penn State had a 28-15 advantage in points off turnovers and outscored the Eagles 30-22 in the paint
Winthrop finished 11-for-25 behind the arc, as Lane hit a career-high five triples
NOTABLES
Lane came off the bench to score a career-high 17 points as he finished the game 5-of-7 from the floor in 23 minutes
Eagles had won three straight season openers and are now 29-17 all-time
Eagles had four players in double-figures led by Talford’s 18, Lane added 17, Hightower had 15 and McMahon added 11