Bostick leads No. 22 Minnesota past Penn State
Published 4:30 pm Sunday, January 11, 2009
MINNEAPOLIS — Reserve Devron Bostick scored 19 points to lead 22nd-ranked Minnesota to a 79-59 victory over Penn State on Sunday.
Fellow junior college transfer Paul Carter added 14 for the Gophers (15-1, 3-1 Big Ten), who shot 62.5 percent and hit all nine of their 3-pointers to get The Barn rocking and rolling.
Talor Battle had 19 points and nine assists for Penn State (13-4, 2-2). But the Big Ten’s leading scorer didn’t get on the board until 15 minutes had passed and had to work for everything he got. Teammate Stanley Pringle, who averaged 19.3 points in the first three conference games of the year, was held to seven points on 2-of-8 shooting.
The Nittany Lions have now lost eight straight to Minnesota and are 1-15 lifetime at Williams Arena.
Bostick had managed 11 points in Minnesota’s first three Big Ten games. But he hit his first seven shots on Sunday, including two straight 3-pointers to open up a 21-12 lead midway through the first half.
The mild-mannered transfer from Southwestern Illinois Community College let out a primal scream and pounded his chest after the second one, then really poured it on in the second half.
He scored six straight points, the last on a layup with 8:52 to play that gave the Gophers a 68-47 lead, and they cruised to the finish.
The Gophers’ lone loss of the season came at home to No. 8 Michigan State on Dec. 31 and coach Tubby Smith looks as if he has his team primed to challenge in the rough and tumble Big Ten.
After overcoming a sluggish first 20 minutes to win at Iowa on Thursday, the Gophers came out firing on Sunday against the Nittany Lions.
Minnesota hit six 3-pointers in the first 10 minutes of the game and also converted a three-point play in that span to take a 21-12 lead early.
That trademark Tubby defense was there as well, of course. Battle and Pringle entered the game averaging a combined 34 points.
Pringle played just nine minutes in the first half because of foul trouble and Battle missed his first five shots and was 3-for-10 in the period.
His coast-to-coast layup cut Minnesota’s lead to 31-28 just over four minutes before halftime, but Al Nolen hit the Gophers’ seventh 3-pointer of the half and then drove and dished to Carter for a rim-rattling dunk at the buzzer for a 40-30 lead at the break.
Nothing was easy for Penn State on Sunday because the Gophers simply wouldn’t allow it. Even when David Jackson was wide open for a layup in the second half, Bostick came flying in from the back side to swat it away.
Penn State tried to overcome 37 percent shooting with 17 offensive rebounds, but it wasn’t enough and the Nittany Lions took a step back after beating No. 14 Purdue at home on Tuesday.
