1st	2nd	Final
Robert Morris	33	28	61
Penn State	34	46	80

Last Friday night, it was the Talor Battle show for Penn State.  His 27 points were 17 more than Penn State’s next highest scorer, as Penn State leaned heavily on its best player.

Tonight, however, the Lions experienced a role reversal.  With Talor Battle ineffective, it was the supporting cast that came through.  But don’t let the final score fool you, this win did not come easily for Penn State.

In the first half, Penn State struggled to establish any rhythm offensively, and the Colonials capitalized, maintaining a lead through most of the opening period.  They controlled the boards, created plenty of second chances, and ran the court effectively, creating opportunities and buckets in transition.  Penn State was forced on to the defensive, and with Battle struggling, the Lions offense was stagnant.

Penn State didn’t grab their first lead until there were just over 8 minutes left in the first half, and even then Robert Morris answered to keep the game tight.  The Colonials almost took the lead into the half, but a Talor Battle fast break lay-up with 1 second left, one of just two field goals for Battle in the game, gave Penn State the 1-point advantage at the break.

It was then that the Lions came alive.

Last year, the Big Three for Penn State meant Talor Battle, Jamelle Cornley, and Stanley Pringle.

Tonight, it was Tim Frazier, Chris Babb, and Jeff Brooks, who led the team on a 23-4 run to open the second half, led by Babb, who hit four three-pointers in the first 5 minutes of the second period.  It was a career high 15 points for Babb on the night, all coming on long range shots.  That run gave a glimpse into Babb’s ability as a pure shooter, as it didn’t matter whether he was covered or open, any shot he put up was falling.  If he can do that on a consistent basis, it would come a long way to replacing Stanley Pringle, who turned three point shooting into an art form for the Lions last year.  To expect three, or even four treys a game from Babb might not be asking too much, and any consistent scoring would be a welcome load off of Talor Battle’s shoulders.

Jeff Brooks proved that his performance against Pennsylvania was no fluke, and had another great night.  Brooks scored 12 points on 6-8 shooting from the field, and both misses came from long distance.  They weren’t bad takes, either, as he was open both times.  But what was so impressive was Brooks displaying the ability to create his own shot, off the dribble or with his back to the basket.  We once again saw Brooks playing within himself, not making bad decisions, and using his supreme athleticism to the best of his capabilities.  It’s a shame that it took Brooks three years to develop like this, but there’s no reason to expect it won’t continue.  The missing link was confidence, and now that Brooks has it, he’s playing like he never has before.

Nonetheless, as great as Babb and Brooks were, the story tonight was Tim Frazier.  After being shut out in his debut for Penn State, Frazier was tremendous for the Lions tonight, and displayed the scoring touch that led one recruiting service to label him the top senior from the state of Texas a year ago.

With Battle ineffective, and relegated to the bench for much of the second half, Frazier stepped up, and played his best basketball without Battle on the floor.  Frazier displayed a shooting touch few knew he had in him, lighting up the scoreboard with 19 points, and 4 of 5 shooting from long range.  Though he struggled at times to finish among the trees, Frazier did a great job getting to the basket, creating opportunities for himself and for others.  Playing primarily the point guard, Frazier was able to slow his game down, and the Lions tended to move the ball around much better with him running the show.

Of course, it was more than just those three players who shined for the Lions tonight.  Sasa Borovnjak closed out the game with 8 very solid minutes, and displayed some nice offensive touch, adding 6 points.  David Jackson showed his multifaceted ability to pick up offensive rebounds and tough points and also to step out and nail a three, and continued his run as the Lions best foul shooter, finishing with 8 points on the night.  Andrew Jones didn’t look to score very much, but added 6 points and 8 rebounds in just 24 minutes.

While the opener last Friday against Penn showed us that Talor Battle is very much a superstar in this league, I’d argue that this game taught us much more about this Penn State team.  Even when their go-to guy is having an off night (though 8 points, 6 rebounds, and 7 assists in 28 minutes is still a pretty solid performance) the Lions have enough pieces to fight through, and ultimately ran away with a win over a pretty good Robert Morris team that won the NEC a year ago.

We all know what Talor Battle is capable of, but if the other players on this team can step up, like they did tonight, this will be a very difficult team to beat, no matter who they’re playing.

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