Tony Carr helps Penn State basketball hold off Campbell to win season opener

The lead kept shrinking in the final minutes, but it never went away.

The Penn State men’s basketball team saw Tony Carr hit a career high in scoring and held off Campbell’s comeback for an 86-75 victory Friday evening at the Bryce Jordan Center.

Carr scored 33 points to help the Nittany Lions win for the sixth time in seven season openers under coach Patrick Chambers.

The Camels had their own scoring star in Chris Clemons, who dropped in 39 points.

Josh Reaves netted 15 points to go with eight rebounds for Penn State. Eight points apiece came from Lamar Stevens, Shep Garner and Julian Moore.

Andrew Eudy added 11 points and nine rebounds for Campbell.

Players of the Game

Nittany Lions: Carr’s 33 points included a 13-for-15 performance at the foul line, and topped his previous career high of 24 scored against Indiana last year. The sophomore point guard also grabbed nine rebounds and gave out seven assists, turning the ball over just once.

Camels: Clemons poured in his 39 to accompany seven rebounds and four assists, but also had five turnovers. The 5-foot-9 guard averaged 25.1 points a game last seasoon.

Down the stretch

Penn State led by as many as 17 points near the midpoint of the second half, but saw the lead cut to six with just over five minutes left, and after reaching double digits again, the margin was down to 75-70 off a Clemons layup with 59 seconds to go.

But Carr made sure the Nittany Lions would keep the lead, scoring nine of the team’s final 11 points from that point, including 7 of 7 from the foul line.

Up next

Penn State hosts Fairleigh Dickinson at 5 p.m. Sunday at the Bryce Jordan Center

This story was originally published November 10, 2017 at 8:51 PM with the headline "Tony Carr helps Penn State basketball hold off Campbell to win season opener."