UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. (Nov. 12, 2007) – Junior guard Grant Surprenant (Palatine, IL /Palatine) (Palatine, Ill. / Palatine) had his best offensive game in two seasons with a team-high 20 points, but it wasn't enough as Penn State opened with a big run in the second half on its way to a 74-64 victory over the Saint Francis men's basketball team on Monday night at the Bryce Jordan Center.

The Nittany Lions took a 33-29 lead into halftime, but came out with an 11-0 run to open a 15-point lead. Saint Francis (0-2) pulled to within seven points on Surprenant's 3-pointer with 6:17 remaining, but couldn't get any closer.

Surprenant was 6-of-9 from long distance for 20 points, redshirt sophomore Devin Sweetney (Washington, DC /Riverdale Baptist) (Washington, D.C. / Riverdale Baptist) and redshirt junior Cale Nelson (Newville, PA /Big Spring) (Newville, Pa. / Big Spring) contributed 12 points each, and sophomore Kurt Hoffman (Johnstown, PA /Greater Johnstown ) (Johnstown, Pa. / Greater Johnstown) had 4 points, 2 steals and a career high 8 rebounds in 24 minutes of action. Junior Chris Berry (Seagoville, TX/Seagoville) (Seagoville, Texas / Seagoville) had a team-high 9 rebounds.

Senior Geary Claxton had a double-double with 23 points and 10 rebounds for Penn State. The two-time all-Big Ten forward scored 14 of his points in the second half.

The Red Flash have one day to prepare for their next game as they will play host to Morgan State at 7 p.m. on Wednesday night at DeGol Arena.

The first half was a back-and-forth battle with the Red Flash leading early, and then Penn State jumping out to a seven point lead with 30 seconds remaining. But Ford hit a 3-pointer with five seconds left in the half to cut it to 33-29 going into the break.

Both teams came out cold as each hit just one bucket in the first four-plus minutes of the game. Claxton got the Nittany Lions on the board with a layup 1:55 into the contest, and Surprenant hit a 3-pointer from the corner to give Saint Francis an early 3-2 lead with 16:41 to go in the first half. The Red Flash would hold that lead for more than six minutes when Claxton hit one from long distance to make it 15-13 Penn State with 10:12 remaining in the half.

Danny Morrissey hit his first trifecta of the game to give the Nittany Lions a 22-19 lead, which they never relinquished.

Surprenant paced Saint Francis with 8 points in the first half, while Sweetney totaled seven points in only 12 minutes after picking up three early fouls. Berry had 6 rebounds, and Nelson added 4 assists in the first half.

Saint Francis missed its first six shots coming out of halftime, and committed three turnovers, during an 11-0 Nittany Lions run. Penn State turned a four point halftime lead into a 44-29 advantage with 15:50 to play.

But the Red Flash responded with an 8-0 run of their own. Surprenant and Nelson hit back-to-back 3-pointers on consecutive trips down the floor, and Sweetney made a pair of free throws to make it a 44-37 Penn State lead with 14:05 remaining. Surprenant and Nelson each made another 3-pointer after four Nittany Lion free throws to make it a 14-4 Saint Francis run as the Red Flash pulled to within five points at 48-43 with 11:33 to play.

With Penn State leading 51-46 with 9:57 left, Saint Francis ran into foul trouble. Sweetney picked up his fourth foul with 9:49 remaining, while redshirt junior Bassirou Dieng (Dakar, Senegal /Riverdale Baptist) (Dakar, Senegal / Riverdale Baptist) picked up his fourth with 8:19 left in the game. Both had been playing with three fouls since the first half.

The Nittany Lions went on a 7-0 run to make it 58-46 with 8:01 remaining, and the Red Flash never got any closer than seven points the rest of the way.

Penn State shot 39.3 percent (24-of-61) from the field, while Saint Francis hit 37.0 percent (20-of-54) of its shots. The Nittany Lions made 18-of-22 attempts (.818) from the charity stripe, while the Red Flash made 14-of-18 (.778).