IU survives scare from Penn State

They use a 23-4 second half run
to pull away from Nittany Lions
By Justin Albers
Bloomington, Ind.- The Penn State Nittany Lions had Indiana right where they wanted them. With 11:55 left in the game they were shooting 8-of-11 from 3-point range, held an 18-10 advantage on the boards and 52-51 on the scoreboard.
And they still lost the game.
The Hoosiers (16-1, 5-0) went on a 23-4 second half run en route to an 81-65 victory on Saturday afternoon at Assembly Hall before a crowd of x,xxx.
"The second half offensively was probably as good as we've played all year," IU coach Kelvin Sampson said. "They (Penn State) were hitting big shots in the first half, especially the 3. They came out and played with a lot of emotion, but we kind of expected that."
Eric Gordon hit a 3 with 11:40 to play to give the Hoosiers a lead they would never relinquish. After Penn State's Jamelle Cornley scored on a layup, D.J. White scored seven successive Indiana points to gain separation. White finished with 22 points and seven rebounds.
"It was a stretch where we needed to pick it up," White said. "The guards did a good job of finding me. That is what good guards do and I think we have good guards that just find me at the right time."
The Nittany Lions (10-7, 2-3) were playing in their first full game without leading-scorer Geary Claxton. Claxton was injured in the first half of a game against Wisconsin and will not play again this season. He was averaging 17 points and eight rebounds, both good for second in the Big Ten.
"This is the first time without him, and that is our third scorer," Penn State coach Ed DeChellis said. "We need to find another guy and we have to get somebody else some shots. Hopefully that is going to be a different guy on any given night."
After IU built up a 22-15 first half lead and seemed to be pulling away, Penn State went on a 10-0 run, six by Stanley Pringle, to regain the lead. The Hoosiers led 37-34 at halftime.
For the first time this season, IU went the entire second half without making a single substitution. Sampson went with Jamarcus Ellis, Gordon, White, Armon Bassett, and Lance Stemler. Sampson said it was not an unusual coaching decision for him.
"I've done that a lot of times over the years," he said. "It was a slow-paced game; they were zoning us. I liked the way the team was playing that was in there and I saw no reason to make a change."
With the victory, the Hoosiers improved their overall and home winning streaks to 12 and 28 games respectively. Sampson is now 26-0 at Assembly Hall, breaking Branch McCracken's record for consecutive home wins to start a career.
"The winning is because of our fans and the players," Sampson said. "They (the fans) expect us to win."
Gordon led the Hoosiers with 25 points on 8-of-17 shooting and a career-high six rebounds. He was 5-of-11 from beyond the arc and didn't attempt a two-point shot until the 3:48 mark of the first half. Gordon had just one turnover in 39 minutes after turning it over seven times at Minnesota on Thursday night.
"I always have good confidence in my shots; I just need to relax and let it flow," Gordon said. "All we worked on in practice today was creating without making the turnover and it definitely showed tonight."
Bassett came off the bench and provided a necessary lift for his team. He scored 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting, including 5-of-6 from the arc in 33 minutes. The Hoosiers were 29-of-51 (57 percent) from the field including a blistering 63 percent (17-of-27) in the second half.
Ellis added 12 points, eight assists, and five rebounds for IU while Talor Battle paced the Nittany Lions with 20 points. Cornley had 19 points and seven rebounds.