College Basketball

Garner scores 17 points; Penn State beats Wright State 72-50

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 12:23 p.m. ET

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STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) Shep Garner scored 17 points, Payton Banks added 15 and Penn State beat Wright State 72-50 on Saturday.

Josh Reaves and Lamar Stevens added 12 points apiece for the Nittany Lions (6-3) who won their fourth straight. Tony Carr grabbed 12 rebounds.

Mark Alstork led Wright State (6-3) with 15 points while Justin Mitchell and Steven Davis added nine each. Mitchell led the Raiders with 11 rebounds.

The Nittany Lions led for all but 56 seconds and pulled away after leading 29-26 at halftime. Penn State opened the second half with a 13-2 run and steadily increased it as the game wore on. The Raiders weren't able to cut Penn State's lead by any more than 13 points and did so when Grant Benzinger tipped in a rebound to make it 45-32 with 14:42 left.

Garner scored 12 of his 17 in the second half.

THE BIG PICTURE

Wright State: Picked in the preseason to finish in the middle of the Horizon League pack, the Raiders entered the game a game behind Valparaiso and Oakland for the conference's top spot. They'll play five of their next six games on the road including the Horizon League opener against Oakland on Dec. 29.

Penn State: The Nittany Lions have four players averaging in double figures and two are freshmen. The balanced scoring has been buoyed by coach Patrick Chambers' commitment to spread minutes around to keep his players fresh. Eight of 10 Nittany Lions played at least 15 minutes on Saturday and the strategy appears to be paying off with four games left before Penn State begins Big Ten play.

UP NEXT

Wright State plays at Loyola of Chicago on Wednesday.

Penn State hosts George Mason on Wednesday.