The Penn State Nittany Lions beat the Chattanooga Mocs 97-93 on Thursday night at the Bryce Jordan Center, as Josh Reed scored 25 points and made 15 of 16 free throws.
Penn State led 54-31 at halftime. An 8-0 run in the first half pushed a 30-22 lead to 38-22, and the Nittany Lions went up by as many as 23. Chattanooga never led, and the game had two ties and no lead changes.
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The Mocs answered by outscoring Penn State 62-43 in the second half. Kobe McDowell-White led the comeback push and finished with a game-high 28 points on 10-of-11 shooting, including 7 of 8 from 3-point range, with 8 assists in 39 minutes. Matt Hampton added 25 points and Lenny Anigbata scored 19 for Chattanooga.
Reed also had 5 rebounds and 5 steals in 33 minutes for Penn State. Ivan Juric posted a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds, going 10 of 14 at the line. Francois Wibaut scored 14 off the bench.
The free-throw line made the difference. Penn State went 43 of 49 on free throws, while Chattanooga made 14 of 23. The Nittany Lions also won the rebounding battle 40-30.
Chattanooga shot better from the field, 34 of 66 (52%) to Penn State's 24 of 53 (45%), and held edges of 42-28 in points in the paint and 17-8 in fast-break points. The Mocs had 23 assists and 11 turnovers.
Penn State is 1-0 and Chattanooga is 0-1.
