Yanic Konan Niederhauser scored 14 points to headline a balanced scoring effort by host Penn State in a resounding 99-51 victory over winless Coppin State on Saturday in University Park, Pa.
Puff Johnson and Nick Kern chipped in 12 points each for the Nittany Lions (9-2), who shot 56.7 percent (38 of 67) from the floor. Ace Baldwin Jr. notched 11 points and a school-record 16 assists for Penn State.
Peter Oduro had 15 points on 7-of-9 shooting to lead the Eagles (0-12).
Baldwin drained a 3-pointer on the first possession of the game and the Nittany Lions never looked back.
Konan Niederhauser added a three-point play to make it 6-0 and the hosts took a double-digit lead (14-4) on Fred Dilione V’s 3-pointer just over three minutes into the game.
That bucket was one of the early hoops in a 20-0 run by the Nittany Lions, who held the Eagles without a point for 6 1/2 minutes. Other highlights of the monster run by Penn State were a 3-pointer by Zach Hicks, six straight points by Kern soon thereafter and then a layup by Dominick Stewart to make it 29-4.
Oduro made a jumper to end the Eagles’ scoring drought, but that certainly didn’t put an end to their struggles. The Nittany Lions answered with 13 of the next 15 points to go ahead 42-8.
Coppin State finally put together a short period of success as the visitors went on an 8-2 run, but Penn State quickly built the lead back to 34 and went into the locker room with a 52-21 advantage.
The Nittany Lions shot 58.3 percent (21 of 36) from the field in the first half, while the Eagles entered intermission at 28.1 percent (9 of 32). At one point in the opening half, Coppin State missed 18 out of 21 shots, including eight in a row during its long scoring drought.
Early in the second half, Penn State used a 9-0 burst — capped by D’Marco Dunn’s layup — to bring the lead to 40 for the first time. Kern’s layup a couple of minutes later ballooned the margin to 45.
The Nittany Lions led by as many as 48 on Jahvin Carter’s 3-pointer that capped the scoring with just under a minute left.
–Field Level Media
