Myreon Jones leads Penn State men's basketball team past Wagner

STATE COLLEGE — Pat Chambers believes Penn State can be one of the best defensive teams in the country.

Two games in, the Nittany Lions appear to be headed in that direction.

Myreon Jones scored 14 points, and Penn State pulled away from Wagner, 91-64, on Saturday.

Lamar Stevens added 13 points, Izaiah Brockington and Seth Lundy added 12 apiece and Jamari Wheeler chipped in 10 for the Nittany Lions (2-0), who led for all but 4 minutes, 33 seconds.

Just as they did in their opener, the Nittany Lions turned defense into offense all afternoon. They forced 18 turnovers and held the Seahawks (0-2) to 24-for-59 shooting.

“I think we have the makings of an elite defensive team,” Chambers said.

Curtis Cobb led Wagner with 19 points, and Alex Morales and Elijah Ford added 18 and 12, respectively.

The Seahawks controlled most of the first 10 minutes, but the Nittany Lions used an 8-3 run capped by a 3-pointer from Curtis Jones Jr. to take a 13-10 lead with 12:52 to play.

Jones sank a pair of free throws with 10 seconds left to put Penn State up 37-30 at halftime.

The Nittany Lions, who forced eight turnovers in the first half, got three in the first two minutes of the second that helped push their lead to 43-30. They led by as many as 30 in the second half.

“We have so many athletes, and we feel like it’s going to be really hard for teams to keep up with us,” Brockington said. “We feel like we can run a lot of teams out of the gym.”

The Seahawks, playing short-handed with only eight players available, didn’t score their first points in the second until Ja’mier Fletcher made a free throw 3:19 in. They didn’t get their first field goal until Morales hit a jumper that made it 50-33 with 14:39 left.

“Those first four minutes in the second half, I saw body language and I knew guys didn’t have anything left in the tank,” Wagner coach Bashir Mason said.