M. Hoops | No focus, no defense, no win

The Palestra, like many sports arenas, frequently plays the song "Jump Around" to get the home crowd into the game.

But in the Penn men's basketball team's 85-73 home loss to Penn State last night, it looked like the visitor, not the host, had taken the song's lyrics to heart.

Indeed, the Nittany Lions jumped around - and down the throats of - the Quakers (1-3) in the 44th meeting of the two oft-confused institutions.

Penn held a 31-12 series advantage coming in, but Penn State (5-0) didn't seem to care. The Nittany Lions used superior speed and athleticism to run the Quakers off the court.

In truth, it looked like an old-school West Philadelphia hoops beatdown.

The Nittany Lions started the game off with seven-straight points before sophomore guard Tyler Bernardini sank a jumper from around the foul line to get the Red and Blue on the board.

About midway through the first half, Bernardini had accounted for 100 percent of the Quakers' points. Too bad he'd tallied only two field goals and no free throws.

The score: Penn State 21, Tyler Bernardini 4.

"It was a good offensive performance by us," Penn State coach Ed DeChellis said in what was certainly an understatement.

But to hear coach Glen Miller and his Quakers tell it, the huge score discrepancy was due more to their own play than that of the Nittany Lions.

"I don't think they did anything special at all," Miller said. "We lacked intensity, we lacked focus."

Penn State guards Stanley Pringle and Talor Battle made it look like the Quakers lacked motor skills too, cutting in and out of the lane at will.

Pringle, a senior, dropped a game-high 25 points to go along with five rebounds and seven assists.

Battle, who is just a sophomore, nearly matched his teammate, picking up 24 points and seven rebounds.

But it was Pringle's explosive first step and terrific ball handling that made the difference for the Nittany Lions.

And they knew it. Penn State assistant coaches belted a very simple command as their players raced up and down the hardwood: "Run!"

"I think those two kids are pretty fast back there," said DeChellis, whose team had a commanding 49-24 lead by the half. "Pringle's as fast as I have seen guys with the ball."

Throughout the first period, Murphy's Law seemed to be in full effect for the Red and Blue.

Sophomore guard Harrison Gaines got a friendly bounce on a questionable shot, just to see the Lions answer with a quick three.

Then, after an impressive block by the Quakers, Penn State scooped up the deflected ball and put it in for a quick bucket.

Perhaps the entire first half was summed up when freshman guard Zack Rosen, trying to keep the ball inbounds, accidentally hit teammate Conor Turley in the head. Ouch.

Even the Quaker Girls' dance routine had a cringe-worthy mistake: The background music failed to play correctly.

Yet in the second half, the Red and Blue revved up their energy and Penn State finally looked beatable.

Gaines, who finished the contest with 16 points on 6-for-10 shooting, started hitting jumpers, the Quakers started moving on defense and the lead slowly but surely started to shrink.

"We played harder, we executed better," Miller said. "We have to be able to play like that for 40 minutes."

Unfortunately for the Quakers, it was too little, too late.

They pulled within 10 with three and a half minutes left, but wouldn't get any closer.

A foul-heavy endgame strategy from Miller didn't quite succeed, as the Nittany Lions made 61 percent of their free throws during the game.

In addition to all of its offense, Penn State managed to make a few stops too.

Bernardini was held in check throughout the game, finishing with a paltry eight points and five rebounds.

Not quite the all-world performances he put on against No. 1 North Carolina and Monmouth.

But Miller lays the blame on the whole team, not just his super soph.

"We started 20 minutes too late," he said.

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