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Penn State beats Robert Morris, 80-61
Tuesday, November 17, 2009

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Penn State relied on its long-distance shooting to sink Robert Morris last night.

Sophomore guard Chris Babb hit four 3-pointers in the first 5:40 of the second half to key a 23-4 run as the Nittany Lions cruised to an 80-61 non-conference victory against the Colonials at the Bryce Jordan Center.

Freshman guard Tim Frazier had a game-high 19 points off the bench for the Lions (2-0), who got eight points and seven assists from sophomore All-Big Ten Conference guard Talor Battle in 28 minutes.

"Talor's a great player but every player has off nights," Babb said. "When that happens, we have other guys who can step up. It's a great feeling knowing we're not a one-man team."

Babb (5 of 9) and Frazier (4 of 5) combined to hit nine of Penn State's 12 3-pointers, including six in the second half, when the Lions outscored the Colonials (0-2), 46-28.

"I think we came out the first five minutes of the second half and made a statement," Penn State coach Ed DeChellis said. "Chris came out, knocked down some shots, and it got him going and us going."

Robert Morris coach Mike Rice, who has led his team to back-to-back Northeast Conference championships and an NCAA tournament berth in March, thought his team played good defense on Battle, who was 2-for-9 shooting and 0 for 4 from 3-point range.

"But Babb and Frazier hit us right square in the chin," he said. "We backed up, but we didn't give it back."

Junior forward Jeff Brooks added 12 points for Penn State, which shot 59.3 percent (16 of 27) from the field in the second half and 53.8 percent (7 of 13) from 3-point range.

Sophomore forward Russell Johnson had 11 points to lead Robert Morris, which shot 35.3 percent (12 of 34) from the floor in the second half and 20 percent (2 of 10) from behind the arc. Sophomore guard Velton Jones had 10 points and senior forward Rob Robinson added eight points and nine rebounds.

"I don't think we persevered and hung in there very well in the second half, which was something we have done the last two years," Rice said. "This is a team that still is learning how to win."

Robert Morris led most of the first half against the defending National Invitation Tournament champions, with its biggest margin being six points.

But Penn State, which led just four times in the opening 20 minutes, rallied to take a 24-21 lead on Frazier's second 3-pointer with 6:40 to play.

The lead see-sawed back and forth until Robert Morris went ahead, 33-31, on Lijah Thompson's acrobatic one-handed slam off a missed 3-pointer by Gary Wallace with 53 seconds remaining.

Ron Musselman can be reached at rmusselman@post-gazette.com.
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First published on November 17, 2009 at 12:00 am