Kanye Clary puts up 20 as Penn State tops Le Moyne

Field Level Media|published: Thu 21st December, 21:20 2023

Dec 21, 2023; University Park, Pennsylvania, USA; Penn State Nittany Lions guard Kanye Clary (0) drives the ball to the basket as Le Moyne Dolphins guard Trent Mosquera (21) defends during the first half at Bryce Jordan Center. credits: Matthew O'Haren-USA TODAY Sports

Kanye Clary scored a game-high 20 points to go along with six assists and five rebounds while leading Penn State to a 72-55 win over Le Moyne on Thursday in University Park, Pa.

Qudus Wahab had 11 points and eight rebounds and D'Marco Dunn came off of the bench to score 10 points for Penn State (6-6).

The Nittany Lions shot just 39.7 percent overall from the field (25 of 63) and 34.4 percent from 3-point range (11 of 32) but held a 43-31 rebounding advantage, grabbing 14 offensive boards.

The Dolphins (5-8) shot 36.4 percent from the field overall (20 of 55) and 26.1 percent from 3-point range (6 of 23).

Le Moyne's Kaiyem Cleary scored 14 points, Ocypher Owens had 13 points and Nathan McClure added 12 points.

Penn State held a 45-28 lead with 18:19 remaining, but Le Moyne went on a 10-4 surge to cut its deficit to 11 points with 14:33 left.

The Nittany Lions scored the next six points to push their lead to 55-38, but the Dolphins clawed back to within 10 with 7:38 remaining after a 3-pointer by Owens.

However, Penn State stood firm and took a 66-53 lead with 3:01 left on a basket by Clary.

Le Moyne couldn't get the deficit in single figures for the rest of the game, and a jumper by Wahab with 1:08 left restored Penn State's lead to 17.

After a tight first four minutes of the game, Penn State went on a 14-2 run over a span of five minutes to take a 26-11 lead with 10:16 remaining in the first half.

The Nittany Lions then built their lead to 35-14 with 6:27 to go before halftime before Le Moyne closed the first half off strong, cutting its deficit to 40-28 entering intermission.

—Field Level Media