University Park, Pa. – Kanye Clary scored 20 points to lead Penn State University to a 72-55 victory over the Le Moyne College men's basketball team on Thursday night at the Bryce Jordan Center.

"I thought that we were struggling to start, I think we were just a little rushed, like their length and athleticism kind of took us out of what we wanted to do at the beginning," said head coach Nate Champion '14. "They blocked our first shot, which I thought kind of threw us off a little bit and I think they only ended up with like two blocks or three blocks. But the biggest thing that I saw was just the maturity of the group, like how much we've improved since Georgetown. I mean, handling situations being in big arenas, being in holes and being able to fight back. What I liked about this was our ability to just continue to play and then we started playing our way and we took them out of what they wanted to do, which I was happy with. I think switching to the zone helped us in the second half. But, the problem is, it's hard when you go to zone because it's hard to rebound naturally out of the zone and then you are at a significant disadvantage with these guys. And, it really showed just with second chance points. I mean, they were 21-4 against us."

Graduate student guard Kaiyem Cleary (Manchester, England/Redemption Christian Academy (NY)/Florida Southern/Florida Southwestern/Ball State) led the Dolphins in the setback with 14 points, eight of which came after halftime, and seven rebounds. Junior forward Ocypher Owens (Orlando, Fla./Orlando Christian Prep/Indian River State) had eight of his 13 points in the first half, while adding six rebounds and three assists. Graduate student guard Nate McClure (Houston, Texas/Concordia Lutheran/Texas State/State Fair C.C./IUPUI) recorded 12 points and four rebounds.

Clary tallied 11 of his game-high point total in the second half, while finishing the game with six assists and five rebounds. Qudus Wahab recorded 11 points and a game-high nine rebounds, while D'Marco Dunn had 10 points.
 
Following back-and-forth action over the opening four and one-half minutes, which resulted in a 12-9 Penn State lead, the Nittany Lions rattled off 14 of the next 16 points and 23 of the next 28 to open up a game-high 21-point lead with 6:27 remaining. Six Nittany Lions scored in the span, led by six points from Rayquawndis Mitchell, who buried two of the team's six three-pointers in the span.

The Dolphins answered back with 10 of the next 12 points to cut their deficit to 13 with 2:23 left in the half. McClure and Owens each had four points in the stretch for the Dolphins.

Following two free throws by Dunn, Owens scored four points around a free throw by the Nittany Lions to pull the Dolphins within 40-28 at halftime.

After the teams traded baskets over the opening five and one-half minutes of the second half, capped by a three-pointer by Cleary to get the Dolphins within 11, the Nittany Lions scored six straight points to regain their 17-point advantage. Dunn had three points over two possessions and then Clary hit a three-pointer.

Sophomore guard Trent Mosquera (Brookline, Mass./Belmont Hill School) and McClure answered with three-pointers to make it an 11-point game again with 9:51 left.

Following a jumper by Clary with 8:09 to play, Owens made a three-pointer and Cleary had a lay-up around a Mitchell free throw to get the Dolphins within single digits with 6:09 to go for the first time since early in the game.

Penn State's lead bounced between 11 and 13 points over the next three minutes before the Nittany Lions scored the final six points of the game.

Le Moyne (5-8) closes out its non-conference schedule on December 30 at Fairfield University at 2:00 p.m.

Additional quotes from head coach Nate Champion
"I thought there were some opportunities that we had just, you know, when we're down like 10 or 11, and we cut it to nine. I thought we had a really good play baseline out of bounds, kind of looped around, it was wide open with that one, second for a lob, and we just missed it. I thought that's what we were tonight, like we were just like one or two plays away from really making this a close game and putting them on the edge, but you know, credit to Penn State, they made timely shots, they hung in there and ultimately pulled away, but I was proud of our guys for battling the way they did and we got some guys banged up that really stuck it out. You know, so this break will be good for us and then like we said, we'll get right back to it after Christmas."
 
On not turning the ball over against Penn State pressure…
"I think we've done a good job of that all year. I mean, to be honest, I know it sounds like it should be something that's pretty straightforward, but I mean we work on passing and taking care of the ball and moving and screening and like just the very basics every single day in practice. So, if we were to come out here and turn it over 18 times, I'd have been so disappointed but we didn't. I thought we handled it really well. That's the first time we've seen a trapping team and a team that'll run and jump. Obviously FDU in our conference will do that, which I think gives us good practice as we start to embark on that journey. But overall, our team battled well, just didn't shoot well and that's something that we have to continue to work on."
 
On where he's seen improvements…
"I think we've improved a lot and I think our mentality has continued to be pretty steady. You know, aside from the Army game where I thought we dipped a little bit and just our intensity and the way that we approach everything. But then we got back on track and I think that was a great learning experience for us. And we have to continue that as we move forward. But, you know, the nice thing about this group is they're eager to win, like, we're going to win games, and it's coming, it's just a process. Through it all, from Georgetown to now at the end of 2023, our program has taken a huge jump forward, and it's pretty evident, like, just from the end of the year last year to where we're at right now, I mean, Le Moyne is improving tremendously. It's a huge kudos to our team and our staff and what we're doing in our administration. I mean, making the jump to Division I is one thing but having team that's ready to go and ready to really compete at that level is another and I think we've done a good job with that."
 
"I think the one thing though, is like we can't be complacent with a 17-point loss. You know, like I thought we played better once we got through the initial start. I thought we played better but we still have a long ways to go as a team and I don't want us to ever get complacent. I don't know if we'll reach the ceiling in January but we sure as heck will reach it in in February and March and we'll be playing some good basketball."