Kayne Clary and Ace Baldwin propel Penn State to 74-65 win over Lehigh
Penn State men's basketball improved to 2-0 on the season Friday night behind a second-consecutive 20-point night from sophomore guard Kanye Clary while VCU transfer Ace Baldwin also had a strong night with 16 points on 6-of-14 shooting from the floor.
Georgetown transfer Qudus Wahab had a strong night as well, following up a quality performance against Delaware State. Wahab totaled 11 points and 18 rebounds in the game.
The Nittany Lions came out hot in the first half on Friday night, making six of their first seven shots in the game and seven of their first 9, good enough to give them a 17-10 lead with 14:29 remaining in the first half.
However, a five-minute stretch in which the Nittany Lions failed to make a basket, flipped the game around, with Lehigh taking advantage of the Penn State struggles to garner a 21-17 lead with under 10 minute to play in the opening half.
Prior to the end of the first half, the Nittany Lions would refind some offensive momentum, making six of their last 10 shots to tie the game at 38-38 and go into halftime with the score level
Despite the struggles in the first half which included the stretch of hitting just 2-of-12 attempts, the Nittany Lions hit 45.3% of their shots in the first half including 41.7% of their attempts from beyond the arc. Kayne Clary led all first-half scorers with 13 points, while D'Marco Dunn contributed nine points in the initial 20 minutes of play.
| TEAM | Eff. FG % | Turnover % | Reb. Rate | FT Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Penn State |
50.78% |
17.80% |
21.62% |
13.43% |
|
Lehigh |
40.48% |
16.40% |
26.83% |
30.16% |
In the second half, the Nittany Lions would come out sluggish with some of their shooting woes continuing, missing eight of their first 11 shots after halftime. Luckily for the Nittany Lions, Lehigh replicated the struggles, missing eight of their first 11 shots after halftime.
The Nittany Lions after the 13:30 mark would finally find their rhythm, finishing the game by making 10 of their last 18 shots including a six-minute span in which they made seven of 10 attempts to turn a once narrow 47-44 lead into a much more comfortable 65-54 advantage.
The Nittany Lions shot a quality 43.8% in the second half while Lehigh shot just 30% to finish the game. Ace Baldwin led the Nittany Lions in the final 20 minutes of action with nine points on 3-of-8 shooting while Kayne Clary and Qudus Wahab both had seven points in the second half. Wahab's impact in the second half included coming down with several clutch rebounds for the Nittany Lions down the stretch with 10 second-half rebounds as part of his 18-rebound game.
| PLAYER | PTS | REB | AST |
|---|---|---|---|
|
G Kayne Clary |
20 (8-for-14) |
2 |
2 |
|
G Ace Baldwin |
16 (6-of-14) |
1 |
2 |
|
C Qudus Wahab |
11 (4-of-7) |
18 |
1 |
|
G DeMarco Dunn |
9 (4-of-7) |
1 |
1 |
UP NEXT....
Penn State Basketball will have a few days off before welcoming St. Francis to town for a Tuesday evening matchup inside of the Bryce Jordan Center. Tip-off is set for 7:00pm ET and the game will be televised on BTN.
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