Penn State men’s basketball held on to beat Furman 73-68 Thursday in the first game of the Charleston Classic, a contest which highlighted the strengths and weaknesses of this Nittany Lion squad as it improved to 4-0 on the year.
Penn State will face the winner of Thursday afternoon’s game between Old Dominion and Virginia Tech on Friday.
The first half was a tale of strengths, Penn State bouncing out to a 22-14 lead after Furman took a brief 5-0 margin to open the contest, the Nittany Lions still finding their footing during an early 11:30 a.m. tip time. From there, Penn State was sharp the rest of the half, making six shots from beyond the arc on 13 attempts while shooting almost 55% from the field overall.
Jalen Pickett led the way off of his triple-double just a few days prior with 13 first half points while Seth Lundy added 10 of his own in the opening 20 minutes of play. The duo was backed by a healthy Myles Dread, who managed an effective 3-for-4 from beyond the arc in the half. All told the trio combined for 32 first half points on 11-for-16 shooting. Penn State’s sharp ball movement would see the Nittany Lions register 11 assists on 17 made baskets while committing just three turnovers in the half. Put together the Nittany Lions found themselves ahead by a 46-29 margin at the break, having led by as many as 21.
The second half was story of weaknesses as Furman — which entered the game just a 2.5 point underdog — started off making five of its first seven shots to quickly cut into Penn State’s lead. In the second half alone, the Paladins would make 13 of its 21 shot attempts over a 16-minute stretch. Penn State, meanwhile, struggled to find the bottom of the basket, making just 10 shots the entire second half.
The rest was predictable, Furman turning Penn State’s 17-point halftime margin into just a four point game with 4:57 to go in regulation. The Paladins managed a 20-12 rebounding margin on the glass, taking advantage of the Nittany Lions’ lacking size and the undeniable truth that three-point shots won’t land forever. However, as Furman found out the hard way, good shooters will eventually make their shots, and Andrew Funk — who had not made a basket all game — hit two different crucial threes, one with 4:24 to go to put Penn State ahead by seven, and then another with 2:26 to go to give the Nittany Lions a six-point lead.
Furman cut the lead to just one with 1:48 to go, but deep jumper by Seth Lundy and two more free throws with six seconds to go sealed the deal. By the end of the lunchtime proceedings Lundy and Pickett would finish with 20 points each as the only two Nittany Lions in double figures. All the same, six different Nittany Lions made a three en route to 11 makes, giving Penn State four-straight games of double-digit makes from beyond the arc. Twenty points in the paint also was a welcome sight for a team spending most of its time far away from it.
In the end, the Nittany Lions nearly learned the old adage about living and dying by the three. Fortunately for coach Micah Shrewsberry and company, they also learned they know how to make shots when they need them the most, a skill in its own right.
