Newbill Helps Penn State Hold Off Drexel 73-68

ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) — D.J. Newbill scored 20 points, Brandon Taylor had 14 and 11 rebounds and Penn State won its ninth-straight game 73-68 over Drexel on Saturday at the PPL Center.

The Nittany Lions (11-1) made 7 of 8 free throws in the final minute to hold off the Dragons (2-8), who lost their fourth straight.

Tavon Allen had 15 points for Drexel with Sammy Mojica adding 14 off the bench, Damion Lee getting 13 and Mohamed Bah 10.

Penn State led 58-38 on a Newbill jumper with 7:23 left before Drexel made a final run. Allen hit the first of two straight 3-pointers at 6:58 and Freddie Wilson followed with a third to fuel a 15-0 run that cut it to 58-53 with 4:13 left.

Newbill hit two free throws, Donovon Jack had a tip-in and the Dragons never got closer until a 3 by Rashann London with 1 second left.

Drexel trailed 20-19 after a Bah jumper with 6:48 to go in the first half but Brandon Taylor and Shep Garner knocked down consecutive 3-pointers and after a Drexel basket, Taylor and D.J. Newbill scored for a 30-21 lead 4:53 before halftime.

The Nittany Lions led 36-28 at the break.

The Dragons got within 40-35 early in the second half before a Newbill layup and four free throws pushed Penn State ahead 46-35. That was the start of a 14-1 run that gave Penn State a 55-36 lead with nine minutes left.

Penn State finished 20 of 27 from the foul line to 12 of 19 for the Dragons, who shot 40 percent from the field while the Nittany Lions were at 49 percent. The rebounding battle was even but Drexel had an 11-5 advantage in offensive boards.

TIP-INS

Drexel: Damion Lee was averaging 20.7 points, the lone Dragon to average in double figures, and has reached double digits in nine games. However, he didn't get his 13 points until he made a 3-pointer with 21 seconds left and a layup 10 seconds later. .Lee was 3 of 15 from the field, 2 of 12 behind the arc. ... Lee only played five games last year before a season-ending knee injury.

Penn State: PSU was the home team for the game in Allentown, only the third at the PPL Center (which is closer to Philadelphia than to State College) and first for both teams. ... D.J. Newbill has now scored at least 20 points seven times this season. ... The Lions are 4-0 against the Dragons but the last meeting was 18 years ago, when John Amaechi had his first 20-point game in a 73-64 win. ... The teams will play in Philadelphia'sfamed Palestra next December.

SMALL WORLD

Both Drexel coach Bruiser Flint and Penn State's Patrick Chambers played at Episcopal Academy inPhiladelphia. Flint graduated in 1983, Chambers in '89. ... Nittany Lion Shep Garner was a high school teammate of Drexel's Rashann London at Roman Catholic in Philly and overall played together for six years. This was their first time on opposite benches. Gardner had eight points, including three late free throws and London had six in the battle of freshmen.

KEY INDICATOR

Before this game, the Nittany Lions averaged 78.8 points with a scoring advantage of 6.8 points when Brandon Taylor scores in double figures and 64.2 and 4.2 when he doesn't. Taylor's 11 rebounds was a career-high

RARE RECORD

Penn State's 11 wins matches the school record for wins before conference play. The Nittany Lions had 11 wins in 2008-09 before Big Ten play began and they have one more nonconference game before going to Wisconsin on New Year's Eve. PSU started 13-0 in 1995-96 and went on to make the NCAA Tournament.

Up Next

Drexel is home against Iona on Jan. 28.

Penn State is home against Dartmouth on Monday.

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