Penn State shakes off lethargy to top St. Francis, 92-62

Coming out of a second comfortable win in as many tries, Penn State head coach Mike Rhoades pointed out the obvious. Winners in back-to-back games with scoring outputs of more than 100 points each, his Nittany Lions would see greater challenges moving forward.

"When the ball is hot and everybody's getting a piece of it, I think that creates confidence, and you start seeing that ball. When guys share the ball and you go from good shots to great shots, the rim gets bigger, the hoop gets bigger. They can see that," said Rhoades. "There's a joy to this team the way they play. We need adversity. We need some games coming up that are going to create some adversity."

Tuesday night at the Bryce Jordan Center, Rhoades and the Nittany Lions got one.

Hosting St. Francis (Pa.), a program located just an hour away from State College, Pa., in nearby Loretto, Penn State was met with its most difficult test of the young 2024-25 season. Locked in a competitive battle in the first half, the Nittany Lions used their depth and versatility to earn a comfortable, 92-62 win.

Senior forward Puff Johnson led the Nittany Lions with 20 points on 7-of-8 shooting from the floor. He also hit a team-high 3-of-4 3-pointers in the performance. Ace Baldwin (16 points), Yanic Konan Niederhauser (11 pts), and D'Marco Dunn (10 pts) also scored in double-figures.

With the win, the Nittany Lions improved to 3-0 on the season. They'll leave the BJC for the first time this year when they take on Virginia Tech on Friday night in Baltimore as part of the Hall of Fame Series at CFG Bank Arena (7:30 p.m., Peacock).

(More coming)

Penn State 92 – St. Francis 62 box score