George Washington Colonials vs Penn St. Nittany Lions Box Score on Dec 09, 2017

The Sports Xchange
Dec 9, 2017

Penn State bounced back from its worst shooting performance of the season to rout George Washington 74-54 on Saturday in State College, Pa.

Tony Carr scored 19 points, Mike Watkins added 15 points and 12 rebounds and Shep Garner and Josh Reaves added 12 and 11 points, respectively, for the Nittany Lions (8-3).

Penn State never trailed and led 48-19 at halftime after shooting 20-for-34 from the field in the first half.

Yuta Watanabe scored 18 points for the Colonials (5-5) and Jair Bolden added 12. George Washington lost for the first time in three games.

The Nittany Lions, who made just 20 of 56 field goals against Wisconsin on Monday, upped their odds of hitting shots early against the Colonials. Penn State drove the net early, getting layups from Lamar Stevens and Carr and a dunk by Watkins to set the tone in the paint. The Nittany Lions scored 10 of their first 13 points in the paint and finished the first half with 32 points from in close.

They owned the other side of the floor, too, where Watkins outrebounded the entire George Washington lineup. He grabbed nine of Penn State's first 25 boards while the Colonials had just seven in the first 20 minutes.

Watkins looked good offensively, too. While the 6-foot-9 forward led the team in first-half scoring with 11 points, he capped a pair of highlight-reel plays in the first to his bench's pleasure.

Watkins put home a second-chance basket after Reaves dribbled his way through a jagged hallway of defenders but missed a layup. Seconds later, he slammed home an alley-oop that gave Penn State a 34-9 lead en route to a 29-point halftime advantage.