The Daily Collegian Starters lacking support from bench By Stephen Hennessey COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER Penn State was one point away from winning its first conference game in regulation Sunday. But its bench failed to score. Junior guard MEN S Talor Battle, who BASKETBALL scored 28 points may have summed it up best. "We had a lot of points from our starters." the junior guard said Monday. "One or two points [from the bench players] could have determined the game." The bench players combined to score zero points in 32 minutes of play in Sunday's 79-71 overtime loss at Wisconsin. Junior forwards Jeff Brooks and Drew Jones, who both started the Nittanv Lions' first 15 games this season but were benched the Rebounds a silver lining By Andrew Robinson COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER Every time the Penn State men's basketball team has taken the floor against a Big Ten oppo nent. it has left the floor holding the edge in total rebounds. But for each rebounding war they have won. the Nittany Lions can take little solace as they have yet to defeat a conference foe. "It hasn't given us any wins in the Big Ten in that aspect," junior guard and leading rebounder Talor Battle said. “But coach preaches so hard about crashing the boards. We're going to contin ue rebounding like we do, but hopefully it will result in us win ning some games instead of los ing." During his weekly press confer ence, Lions coach Ed DeChellis said rebounding as a whole has not been an area of concern this year. However, the coach said he would like to see improvement in offensive rebounds and coming up with more clutch boards, especial ly in the closing minutes of games. Penn State ranks third in the conference in total rebounds per game with 40.2, but is tied for fifth on the offensive glass with 11.4 per game. Something DeChellis stresses is rebounding from the guard positions, which is vital to igniting the Lions transition game. Goalie battles back from rough third period By Tom Copain COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER Late in the third period Saturday. John Jay laid in front of his net with the puck behind him. The puck came to a rest at the back of the twine, ICERS and Jay was left with his thoughts after West Chester pulled off a frantic comeback to take the lead. Jay was vindicated, though, when defenseman Steve Thurston scored to tie the game. Though Jay eventually helped the Penn State leers win the game, the scene summed up a dissapointing third period that saw him give up three goals. •‘lt might have been a lack of shots,” Jay said of the third period. “Those were the first real shots I’d seen. I kind of only got two shots in the second period. So it’s always last four games, did not score any points in the loss. Assistant coach Lewis Preston pointed to bench production and scoring points off turnovers as two key points to winning any basket ball game. The Lions also struggled to pro duce points off the bench in their previous loss to the Badgers. They only managed three bench points in their 63-46 loss to Wisconsin on Jan. 3. Andrew Ott contributed the only bench points three points with three minutes remaining when the game was already out of reach. "When your name and number are called, are you ready to step in and produce?” Preston said. "That's something that we haven't been very consistent with this year and something we have to get better at down the stretch.” Head coach Ed DeChellis said “We’re going to continue rebounding like we do, but hopefully it will result in us winning some games instead of losing.” "I thought our guards rebound ed a little better earlier, but they need to do a better job of coming back and rebounding so we can start our break a little better,” DeChellis said. “We're best in transition when we push it. They can come back and rebound it, and we don’t have to outlet it and just go and push it." While Battle leads the team in boards, the team has gotten bal ance on the glass all season. Junior forward DJ Jackson said rebounding is a team effort and the ability of the players to box out and clear space for the rebound ing player has contributed to the strong effort. Battle and Jackson said the team has been doing rebounding drills every day in practice, with an emphasis on blocking out and clearing space. Even if the for wards aren't rebounding, boxing out allows the guards to clean the glass and use their speed to pres sure defenses. “It's great because our team wants to run," junior center Andrew Ott said. “To have guards tough getting back in the groove after sitting cold like that for a while. So a couple of shots maybe caught me off guard, but at the end I just focused ” Jay had played well in spot duty before Saturday, stopping all 17 shots he faced 9 against Jay Washington Jefferson. With Teddy Hume getting a scheduled day off Saturday, Jay got the start while Dan Ivanir was the backup and Hume watched from the bleach ers. Jay and the leers were cruising until the 8:57 mark of the third period, when Golden Rams for ward Tim Margadonna raced down the wing and beat Jay on a shot from a bad angle to put West SPORTS he stresses to his players the necessity to come off the bench with a productive mentality. “You have to come in and [be] ready to affect us winning the game,” DeChellis said. “You’re coming in to help us win the game, and you’re coming in to be aggres sive offensively and defensively and that’s the way you have to play.” DeChellis has shaken up the lineup lately freshman forward Bill Edwards started the last two games and junior forward Andrew Ott has started the last four. The production from the starters has been inconsistent, too. Edwards committed a game* high six turnovers on Sunday, and Ott traveled with the ball twice in the game’s final minutes. Bringing Jones and Brooks off the bench was supposed to spark their energy level, but the two jun that wifi come back and grab it, they don’t even need to outlet the ball. They can take it themselves and go coast-to-coast.” Ott also emphasized the team effort on the glass, saying Penn State’s bigger guards such as Chris Babb and Cam Woodyard are good at using the space the forwards clear out. However, despite winning the rebounding war, the Lions know they have to do more to win games. Battle echoed his coach in say ing he would like to see the Lions improve their rebounding down the stretch. In Sunday's loss at Wisconsin, the Badgers were the ones who came up with the clutch boards, and Battle said the team has to win those late-game rebounds if the Lions hope to win. “Last game, we gave up a cou ple offensive rebounds to them down the stretch,” Battle said. "Those are the rebounds, regard less if we win the rebounding war, that we’ve got to get them when they really matter.” Tom Ruane/Coll To e-mail reporter: adrso79@psu.edu Chris Babb grabs one of his five rebounds against Indiana Thursday, Chester within one goal. Just more than three minutes later, Jay was beaten again by a wrist shot that found its way to the back of the net to tie the game. And less than three minutes after that, a Golden Rams shot bounced off the board behind the net and either bounced off the stick of a West Chester player or Jay’s leg and trickled into the net. The three goals in six minutes turned a two-goal lead into a one goal deficit. But Jay and the leers remained poised. “I still think we dominated them at that point,” Thurston said. “A couple of things went wrong. They came down and shot the puck from the blueline through a screen. Got one off the back of the boards. They weren’t real ba'd goals, but they’re things we gotta work on.” iors have appeared to regress as of late. “I can’t reward guys for not coming in and getting everything done,” DeChellis said. "You have to come in ready to go. It’s not easy. It’s just reality." DeChellis said he tested his players and their chemistry with each other by mixing up the lineup during the late stages of Sunday's game. He wanted to see how each player fared running with differ ent teammates. As they move forward through Big Ten play still searching for a win, the Lions will continue to look for a player to step up a bench player or a starter. "We're not concerned because we know we have talented guys coming off the bench and that’s not going to happen every night,” junior forward D.J. Jackson said. "But we are looking Talor Battle junior guard obviously he stood strong, held us in the shootout, was the reason we won.” After the go-ahead goal. Jay stayed sprawled on the ice while the Golden Rams celebrated. But he would be redeemed moments later when Thurston scored to tie the game after Jay was pulled for an extra skater. And with the new lease on the game, Jay came back and made a couple of key saves in overtime to keep the game tied and then stopped West Chester in the shootout. “After the fourth goal, I thought it was completely my fault.” Jay said. “After Thurston scored, it's like ‘OK, time to make up for it. Gotta make the saves and make up for it.’ That just carried into overtime. Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2010 I Benched During the past month, Penn State has lacked production from its bench. Opponent 12/29 1/3 1/12 1/16 1/21 1/24 Wisconsin >orts.com Source: gupsusi Justine King/Collegian for them to step up and give us some more production. And it'll come." To e-mail reporter: sihso37@psu.edu Scott Balboni I wasn't gonna let anyone else score after that." Jay was true to his personal convictions. And after the final West Chester shooter missed the net, Jay was down again. Only this time, he raised his glove in cele bration before Tim O’Brien was the first off the bench to congratu late him. “Everyone makes a mistake along the way during a game,” Penn State coach Scott Balboni said. “I'm sure [Jayl’d want that one back. But obviously he stood strong, held us in the shootout, was the reason we won.” To e-mail reporter: tecso26@psu.edu leers coach
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