Final statistics

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – An ice-cold start buried the Slippery Rock University men's basketball team in a hole from which it would not climb Friday night in exhibition action at the Bryce Jordan Center.

The hosting Nittany Lions scored the first 19 points of the game and never looked back as they claimed an 82-51 win in front of 7,625 fans.

Senior guard Michael Evans Jr. hit five 3-point shots and finished with a game-high 20 points for The Rock, while junior forward Maron Brown had eight points and a team-best eight rebounds.

Senior forwards Jabril Bailey and Jade Burka each rejected two Penn State shots, while Maron Brown had one block.

All-Big Ten Conference guard Talor Battle scored 16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for Penn State, the reigning National Invitation Tournament champion.

The disappointing part for second-year Rock head coach Kevin Reynolds and his squad was Friday's setback came five days after the Green and White gave perennial Big East Conference power Pittsburgh all it could handle.

SRU lost that exhibition game by a 75-64 score last Sunday.

The game at Penn State was the final preseason tune-up for The Rock's official season opener Nov. 15 against Ohio University Eastern. Tipoff in Morrow Field House is set for 3 p.m.

The Rock never gave itself a chance to challenge Penn State as SRU missed its first 10 shots from the field, seven of which came from beyond the 3-point arc.

Senior guard Cecil Brown's layup with 14:30 left in the first half accounted for the first Rock points.

Penn State never broke stride after the fast start and held a 46-23 lead at the intermission.

SRU finished the first half with a 20% (7 of 35) shooting performance from the field, keyed by a 3-of-20 (15%) showing from beyond the arc, but hit all six of its free throw opportunities.

Penn State, meanwhile, shot 47.2% (17 of 36) from the field in the opening half with a 3-of-13 (23.1%) showing from 3-point range and a 9-of-14 (64.3%) effort from the foul line.

The Nittany Lions held a 29-16 rebounding advantage in the first 20 minutes of action and committed only five turnovers, compared to seven by The Rock.

Evans had eight first-half points, while Maron Brown added five.

Battle had all his first-half points in the opening 14 minutes as he outscored the entire Rock team, 12-11, at that point in the game.

Penn State held a pair of 26-point leads in the opening minutes of the second half before The Rock closed the margin to 17 points, 57-40, with 10 minutes left.

The Nittany Lions came right back with 17 unanswered points in the next six minutes to push the difference to 35, 75-40. That was the largest lead of the game for the hosts.

Final statistics showed The Rock hit 21/9% (16 of 73) of its field goal attempts, keyed by a 10-of-39 (25.6%) showing from 3-point range. SRU was a perfect 9-of-9 at the foul line.

Penn State finished the game with a 43.1% (31 of 72) efficiency from the field, but had a frigid 20.8% (5 of 24) effort from beyond the arc and made only 65.2% (15 of 23) from the foul line.

The Nittany Lions had a 60-37 rebounding advantage and were on the shorter end of a very respectable 10-9 turnover comparison.