College basketball roundup
Jalen Pickett scored 23 points, Andrew Funk added 22 and Penn State opened the season with a school record 18 3-pointers and a 93-68 win over Winthrop on Monday.
Myles Dread added 12 points and Seth Lundy had 10 for the Nittany Lions, who went 18 of 38 from 3-point range and shot 55% overall.
Picket hit 6 of 7 shots, half of them 3-pointers and scored 15 points in the first half as the Nittany Lions took a 44-32 lead.
Starting with a 3-pointer from Funk, a Bucknell transfer, and ending with Camren Wynter’s three-point play, the Nittany Lions scored the first eight points of the second half to lead by 20. Lundy twice hit 3-pointers to make the lead 23, but Winthrop had a 12-2 run to get it within 13 with 8:53 to play.
Winthrop, which was 23-9 last season, went cold to close the game, missing 7 of 9 shots with five turnovers.
Kelton Talford scored 18 points, Toneari Lane 17 and Cory Hightown 15 for the Eagles.
West Virginia 76, Mount St. Mary’s 58: Emmitt Matthews scored 15 points in his return to West Virginia, Tre Mitchell added 13 points in his first game in nine months and the Mountaineers opened the season with a 76-58 victory over Mount St. Mary’s.
Erik Stevenson, a South Carolina transfer, overcame early foul trouble that forced him to miss most of the first half and finished with 10 points for West Virginia.
Matthews spent his first three seasons at West Virginia before transferring to Washington a year ago to be closer to family. A native of Tacoma, Washington, Matthews returned this season to Morgantown, where he’s been reunited with childhood friend Stevenson, who is from Lacey, Washington.
A crowd favorite, Matthews was making his 99th career start. He dunked on consecutive possessions midway through in the second half to put the Mountaineers ahead 44-29.
Mount St. Mary’s got no closer than 11 points the rest of the game.
Mitchell had 10 of his points in the second half. He is a Pittsburgh native who started 17 games at Texas last season but had not played since early February, when he took what the Longhorns called a personal leave of absence.
West Virginia had a 45-28 rebounding advantage but committed 18 turnovers, one more than Mount St. Mary’s..
Ohio State 91, Robert Morris 53: Justice Sueing scored 20 points, Zed Keys had a double-double and freshman Brice Sensabaugh just missed one in his debut as Ohio State cruised to a 91-53 victory over Robert Morris.
Sueing sank 8 of 14 shots with two 3-pointers for the Buckeyes, who opened with a win for the 19th straight season – including the last six under coach Chris Holtmann. Key finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds, while Sensabaugh totaled 17 points and nine boards. Sensabaugh is one of six true freshman on an Ohio State roster with 10 newcomers.
Enoch Cheeks scored 17 to lead Robert Morris. Freshman Stephaun Walker added 10 points.