UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. (AP) — Jalen Pickett scored 16 points, Andrew Funk added 15 and Penn State turned up the defense in the second half to roll to a 97-67 win over Canisius on Sunday.
Pickett had 13 points and the Nittany Lions shot 56% in the first half but the Golden Griffins kept pace, matching Penn State’s five 3-pointers and shooting 50% to trail 42-36.
The second half was a different story.
Kebba Njie started and ended a 9-0 run with dunks to open the second half for a 15 point lead. Funk had a 3-pointer in that run and after two Canisius free throws hit consecutive 3s to start a 13-0 run. The lead was 64-38 barely five minutes into the second half. Njie had another dunk and Camryn Wynter capped the surge with a 3.
Penn State went 9 of 12 in the five minutes after intermission, Canisius missed its first six shots and had four turnovers.
Canisius had an 11-3 spurt to get within 18 at the 12-minute mark but then missed seven straight shots as the Nittany Lions had a 16-1 run. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Myles Dread and Jameel Brown made it 83-50 with eight minutes to play.
Seth Lundy scored all 10 of his points in the first half for Penn State (8-3) and Funk went 5 for 5 from long distance in the second half for all his points. Pickett had nine assists and Njie had eight rebounds.
The Nittany Lions finished 13 of 22 behind the arc and shot 58% overall with 22 assists and just three turnovers.
Jordan Henderson scored 14 points and Jacco Fritz had 13 for the Golden Griffins (2-8), who shot 30% in the second half and had nine of their 13 turnovers.
Penn State has two more nonconference games at home, starting with Quinnipiac on Thursday before returning to Big Ten play with a visit from Iowa on Jan. 1.
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