STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP)—Talor Battle had 27 points and 10 rebounds as Penn State debuted its 2009 NIT championship banner with a 70-55 win over Penn on Friday night.
Jeff Brooks added 10 points for the Nittany Lions (1-0), who won their sixth straight dating back to last spring’s run to take the postseason NIT title.
Jack Eggleston scored 13 points, while Tyler Bernardini added 12 for the Quakers (0-1), who committed 23 fouls in a tightly called contest.
Battle picked up where he left off last season, igniting the offense and hitting tough shots in opening the game shooting 7 of 8 from the field. He connected on 11 of 20 for the game.
Penn narrowed a 10-point deficit to 54-48 with 7:01 left on a lay-up by Eggleston.
But the Nittany Lions got a putback from Andrew Ott and two buckets from Battle during a 7-1 run to take control.
