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Complete
Box Score (PDF)
STATE COLLEGE, PA – The Edinboro
University men’s basketball team dropped a 71-58 decision at
Penn State in an exhibition game on Thursday night. The Fighting
Scots will open the regular season on Tuesday, November 15,
hosting West Virginia Wesleyan in a 7:00 p.m. tipoff.
Now veteran head coach Greg Walcavich has to
wonder which team will show up on Tuesday night, the one that went
for a ten-minute stretch in the first half without scoring, or the
one that outscored the Nittany Lions, 42-33, in the second half.
“After the first timeout it was
an abomination,” related a disturbed Walcavich afterwards in
regards to the ten-minute scoreless spell. “If you don’t
take care of the ball, don’t rebound, and don’t get
back, you get slapped, and we did. In the second half we did a
better job of taking care of the ball. We didn’t give up
easy, easy baskets, and we started shooting the ball rather than
just throwing it up. We were better organized on both ends of the
court.”
A Torry Mitchell (Erie, PA/Central)
three-pointer knotted the score at 9-9 with 15:50 left in the
first half, but the Fighting Scots would not score again until the
5:51 mark when Mitchell hit a jumper. By that time Penn State had
run 17 straight points amid a flurry of seven Edinboro turnovers,
plus questionable shots which led to easy breakout baskets.
Mitchell’s jumper made it 27-11 and snapped a string of
twelve straight missed shots.
The first half would end with the Fighting
Scots trailing 38-16. Edinboro shot just 25.0 percent in the first
half (7 of 28) and was outrebounded, 24-14. Penn State, meanwhile,
shot 51.5 percent from the floor with Geary Claxton making 6 of 7
shots, including several dunks, for 14 points.
The second half was a different story. Penn
State boosted the margin to 28 at 51-23 early in the half, but
after that the Fighting Scots played much better basketball.
Edinboro closed with a 17-3 run for the final margin.
Daren Tielsch (McKees Rocks, PA/Montour),
who played at Penn State in 2001-02 before eventually transferring
to Edinboro, returned to the Bryce Jordan Center and led all
scorers with 22 points, adding 6 rebounds. The 6’8”, 240
lb. senior scored 20 of his 22 points in the second half, going 8
of 14 from the floor and 6 of 8 at the free throw line on the
evening. He added 4 assists.
After a slow start, Justin Moore
(Canonsburg, PA/Canon-McMillan), a 6’6”, 221 lb.
sophomore, teamed with Tielsch to give a glimpse of a promising
inside game. The transfer from New Haven finished with 13 points
and 6 boards, making 6 of 10 field goals, while adding a pair of
blocks. Mitchell was also in double digits with 10 points.
Sophomore guard Devon Knight (Pittsburgh, PA/ Penn Hills)
played extremely well in a reserve role, hitting 4 of 7 field
goals for 8 points.
Edinboro finished the night shooting 42.1
percent from the floor (24 of 57) after a sizzling 58.6 percent
(17 of 29) performance in the second half. Penn State cooled to
46.7 percent (31 of 67), with the Nittany Lions holding a 39-30
rebounding edge.
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