Jalen Pickett scored 16 points as host Penn State overcame a slow start and pulled away in the second half for a 97-67 victory over Canisius on Sunday afternoon at University Park, Pa.
Penn State (8-3) rallied from a pair of nine-point deficits in the opening minutes but also lost second-leading scorer Seth Lundy to an apparent ankle injury late in the first half.
Lundy scored 10 points before appearing to sustain the injury attempting a layup while colliding with Canisius forward Xzavier Long with 2:22 remaining.
Lundy was on the bench with crutches and a brace for most of the second half, during which the Nittany Lions outscored Canisius 55-31 and made eight of their 13 3-pointers.
Pickett scored 13 points in the first half when Penn State turned a pair of nine-point deficits into a six-point lead. Andrew Funk scored all 15 of his points after halftime and made all five of his 3-point tries after attempting one shot in the opening 20 minutes as the Nittany Lions shot 58 percent.
Jordan Henderson scored 14 points to lead the Golden Griffins (2-8), who dropped their sixth straight game.
Jacco Fritz added 13, Jamir Moultrie finished with 11 and leading scorer Tahj Steveskie was held to 10.
The Golden Griffins made six of their first nine shots and opened a 14-5 lead on a layup by Moultrie with 14:51 remaining.
Moultrie reached 11 points with another layup that put Canisius up 20-11 with 12:53 remaining but Penn State countered with an 17-8 run to forge a deadlock on a reverse layup by Michael Henn with 7:16 left. Lundy’s 3-pointer gave Penn State its first lead at 31-28 with 6:43 left.
Penn State opened a 42-31 lead on Pickett’s layup and held a 42-36 lead by halftime.
The Nittany Lions put the game away early in the second half as Funk hit two 3s in a span of 31 seconds for a 57-38 lead with 15:52 left. Two more 3s by Funk pushed the lead to 70-49 with just under 12 minutes left and essentially sealed matters.
–Field Level Media
