Drexel's Comeback Bid Falls Short as Penn State Downs Dragons, 73-68

Saturday, December 20

Allentown, Pa. (PPL Center)

2:00

Drexel University

2-8

Penn State

11-1

DREXEL

Penn State

Photo by: Greg Carroccio

Drexel's Comeback Bid Falls Short as Penn State Downs Dragons, 73-68

12/20/2014 4:09:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Allentown, Pa. — Penn State went on a 15-1 run early in the second half and held off a late Drexel rally to defeat Drexel, 73-68. The Nittany Lions won for the ninth straight time and improved to 11-1. The Dragons dropped to 2-8 on the season.

Drexel trailed by as many as 20 points in the second half before making a late run to make it a game. Tavon Allen sank a pair of three-pointers to start a 15-0 run, Drexel's longest run of the season. Drexel started to trap and that led to points on the next four possessions. Mohamed Bah put back an Allen miss to trim the lead to 58-53 with a little more than four minutes to play. Penn State answered with four straight of its own and the Nittany Lions held the Dragons at bay the rest of the way.

Penn State held a 36-28 lead after the first 20 minutes of play. The Dragons trailed by just three with 1:28 remaining after a pair of Damion Lee free throws cut it to 31-28. However, the Lions closed the half with five straight points to take the eight-point lead at intermission. D.J. Newbill made both ends of a one-and-one and then Brandon Taylor sank a long three-pointer as the shot clock went off in the final seconds of the half. Penn State made seven of their 13 long distance shots in the first half.

Allen led Drexel with 15 points, 12 coming after intermission. Freshman Sammy Mojica had a career-high 14 points and made a pair of three-pointers. Damion Lee added 13, but struggled from the floor, shooting just 3-for-15 overall. Bah chipped in with 10 points.

Newbill led everyone with 20 points. The senior was 5-for-7 from the floor and 9-for-12 from the line. Brandon Taylor had 14 points and 11 rebounds. All 14 of his points came in the first half when he made four three-pointers.

The game was the first of a home-and-home series. Penn State will be playing Drexel at the Palestra next season.

The Dragons are off for the next week for the holiday break. Drexel returns to action on Dec. 28 when Iona visits the Daskalaskis Athletic Center. The teams tip-off at 1 p.m. Drexel's conference schedule begins on Jan. 3 at the DAC, when Elon comes to town for its first conference game as a member of the CAA.