Dec. 31, 2008

Box Score

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Northwestern led by as many as 11 early in the second half, but host Penn State spoiled the Wildcats' Big Ten opener by rallying back for a 61-57 victory at the Bryce Jordan Center Wednesday afternoon. Talor Battle scored 19 of his game-high 26 points in the second half for the Nittany Lions. John Shurna paced NU with 16 points.

Kevin Coble and Craig Moore added 11 points apiece for Northwestern, while Michael Thompson had a solid all-around game with 10 points, six assists, five rebounds, three steals and no turnovers.

The loss drops the Wildcats to 8-3 overall and 0-1 in the Big Ten, while Penn State improves to 12-2 and 1-0.

Trailing 8-3 early, Northwestern used a 19-5 run, including the last seven by Shurna, to surge ahead 22-13 with 5:45 left in the opening half. The Wildcats limited Penn State to one field goal over a span of 8:41 during the run.

The Nittany Lions rallied back to within one late in the opening period before a 3-pointer by Craig Moore increased NU's advantage to 25-21 at the break.

PSU connected on just five of its first 22 field goal attempts in the first half and seven of 30 overall (23.3 percent) over the opening 20 minutes of play.

Kevin Coble was held scoreless in the first half, but scored five as part of a 7-0 run to second stanza and Northwestern stretched its lead to 11.

However, Penn State finally came to life behind the red-hot shooting of Battle. After connecting on just two of nine attempts from the field before the intermission, the sophomore guard the final eight of a 13-2 run to tie game at 36 with 11:55 still remaining.

The contest was knotted at 44 with six minutes to go when the hosts made the decisive run, tallying eight in a row over a two-minute span. The Wildcats would creep back within two at 56-54 with 33 seconds left on a trey by Shurna, but the Nittany Lions made five out of six free throw attempts down the stretch to secure the win.

Battle hit five of seven 3-point attempts in the second half and added a game-high 12 rebounds for Penn State, which won despite being held to just 31 percent shooting in the game.

Northwestern had a commanding 30-10 advantage in points in the paint and had 16 fast-break points to none for the Nittany Lions.

The Wildcats return to action at 6 p.m. Saturday when they host Michigan State at Welsh-Ryan Arena. A large crowd is expected for the contest, so fans are advised to arrive early.