City of Basketball Love

Marley Paul (@MarleyPaul22)
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UNIVERSITY PARK — As Shep Garner erupted for a career-high 30 points at Boston College last Wednesday, Brandon Taylor was forced to observe his teammate’s breakout night from the bench as foul trouble plagued the big man, who only played 18 minutes. 

It was Taylor’s turn to shine on Saturday as he put forth a career performance in Penn State’s 81-70 win versus Eastern Michigan at the Bryce Jordan Center.

The senior forward was locked in on extending the Nittany Lion’s winning streak to three, following back-to-back losses to Radford and Bucknell. He did everything coach Pat Chambers could have asked of him, totaling 27 points and 12 rebounds, both career highs, while adding three assists in 37 minutes of play.

“I was just thinking about stringing some wins together, let that be if I had to get as many rebounds as I could and score as many points as I could, block shots, play defense,” Taylor said. “It didn’t really matter what I did. Even though I had two points in the BC game, i don’t even care, because we got the W, and that’s all that matters.”

Josh Reaves opened the scoring with an open 3-pointer off a drive-and-kick pass from Taylor. It was much of the same one minute later, as Taylor found Garner behind the line and the Nittany Lions jumped out to a 6-2 lead through the first three minutes. 

“I know scoring is cool and it’s fun to score, but I actually like passing even more and getting my teammates open and knowing they’re going to make that shot is a better feeling than making that shot,” Taylor added.

The 6-foot-6, 225-pound forward sat inside the Eastern Michigan zone and picked them apart both inside and out, making four 3-pointers, while capitalizing on all five free throw attempts.

“Any time you have a guy of that caliber that can get the ball inside the middle of the zone, more times than not you’ll have success,” said Rob Murphy, Eastern Michigan head coach. “I give them credit for coming in with a game plan to get him in a position to be successful.”

The good start for Penn State was short-lived as the Nittany Lions had a stretch over the middle of the first half in which they shot 2 for 18 from the field. A Peyton Banks putback with 6:40 remaining in the half ignited the offense and Penn State would put together a quick run before heading to the locker room. 

Penn State went on an 8-0 run in less than two minutes, capped by a Taylor 3-pointer, to take a 24-19 lead with 4:52 remaining. At the half, the Nittany Lions took a 10-point lead into the half, despite shooting 33 percent.

The defensive end of the floor remains an area of concern for Penn State, however. Although Eastern Michigan shot 43 percent from the field, 23 percent from distance, Penn State sent the Eagles to the line 31 times. The two tallest Penn State players, 7-foot Jordan Dickerson and 6-foot-10 Julian Moore played 11 and 13 minutes, respectively, battling foul trouble.

Both teams played physical all game, with 51 personal fouls whistled, 26 and 25, respectively and tempers flared as Penn State a 56-38 lead with nine minutes remaining in the game.

Garner drove past his defender at the top of the key and found a cutting Isaiah Washington, who rose for the finish but was met in the air with Eastern Michigan big man James Thompson, which led to a foul and a tough landing for Washington.

“That’s a freshman right there, he showed some toughness, attack the big man. Man, that was awesome. Sometimes we settle for the corner 3, and that time we didn’t and I think that showed a lot of courage.”

Garner took exception to the hard foul on his teammate, who was slow to get up, and got into a verbal exchange with Thompson, which resulted in a technical foul on the Eagles big man.

“The foul on Zay really got us going, I think personally,” Garner said. “That brought the best out of us. We’re a tough, gritty team, too. We actually liked it, we were pumped up because that was the first time somebody really tried to punch us in the mouth, literally. So, that was great for us … and I’m happy that he did that.”

Taylor stepped up to the line and nailed the two technical free throws to extend the Penn State lead to 20.

The Eagles outshot the Nittany Lions, making 23 baskets to Penn State’s 22, but in the end, the difference was in 3-point shooting. Penn State finished 9 for 21 from distance, while holding Eastern Michigan to 4 of 17 shooting.