UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State men’s basketball team outscored St. Francis (Pa.) 47-24 in the second half to surge to a 92-62 win and move to 3-0 on the season Tuesday night inside the Bryce Jordan Center.

The Nittany Lions turned a seven-point halftime lead into a 30-point margin of victory by way off an all-around team effort in the second half. Penn State limited the Red Flash to a 31.0 field goal percentage and 18.8 clip from 3-point range in the second half.

Puff Johnson led the Nittany Lions with a career-high 20 points behind a 7-for-8 showing from the field, while adding four rebounds and four steals. Ace Baldwin Jr. tallied 16 points, six assists and three steals. Yanic Konan Niederhauser finished with 11 points and seven rebounds after playing just four first-half minutes due to early foul trouble. D’Marco Dunn rounded out the double-digit scorers with 10 points.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Penn State raced out to an 11-0 lead just two minutes into the game behind a Konan Niederhauser dunk and a trio of 3-pointers from Zach Hicks, Baldwin Jr. and Johnson to force an early St. Francis timeout at 17:58.

The Red Flash worked their way back within five at 16-11 five minutes later. Penn State was ahead 25-17 following a Johnson jumper at the 9:39 mark, but St. Francis went five for its next five to string together a 10-4 stretch that pulled the Red Flash within two at 29-27 with 6:45 left on the first-half clock.

St. Francis pulled ahead 34-33 with 2:17 to play, the first and only time Penn State has trailed thus far this season, but Johnson immediately answered with a personal 6-0 run over a 17-second stretch to put the Nittany Lions back in front 39-34 at 1:40.

The Nittany Lions limited the Red Flash to just one field goal and two free throws in the final 2:16 as Baldwin Jr. scored five points and Dominick Stewart added a free throw to give Penn State a 45-38 lead heading into halftime.

The teams exchanged baskets through the first five minutes of the second half as the Nittany Lions maintained a seven-point lead at 56-49.

Puff Johnson drilled his third triple of the night at the 14:59 mark to spark a 23-3 run over the next 6:58. The Nittany Lion defense forced eight SFU turnovers during the stretch and allowed just one Red Flash basket from 15:16 to 6:42. Ten of Penn State’s points during the game-defining stretch were fastbreak points as the Nittany Lions ran their lead to 27 at 79-52 with 8:01 to play.

The Nittany Lions were on cruise control the rest of the way, limiting the Red Flash to a 31.0 second-half field goal percentage and 18.8 percent second-half clip from downtown as Penn State picked up the 92-62 victory.