UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Junior forward Mike Holloway Jr. scored 19 points but the Fairleigh Dickinson men's basketball team dropped to 0-2 on the season, falling to Penn State 81-57 at the Bryce Jordan Center on Sunday night.
 
Turnovers were the story in the contest as the two teams combined to commit 54 miscues on the night. The Nittany Lions (2-0) used their length and aggressiveness to jump into passing lanes and turn the Knights over 31 times, while the Knights' (0-2) defense caused PSU to total 23 miscues.
 
Holloway's 19 points came via a 6-of-12 (50%) shooting performance from the field and a 6-of-7 effort at the line. Freshman point guard Jahlil Jenkins reached double-figures for the first time in his young career scoring 14 points to go along with four rebounds and four assists, while fellow freshmen Noah Morgan and Elyjah Williams each finished with seven points.
 
Sophomore guard Tony Carr led five Nittany Lions in double-figures by scoring a game-high 20 points with seven assists and four rebounds. Carr's backcourt mate junior Josh Reaves also filled up the box score, scoring 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting with nine rebounds, four assists and four steals.

The Knights held the Nittany Lions to just 4-of-16 (25%) from behind the arc but permitted 46 points in the paint and sent PSU to the line 22 times resulting in 17 more points.
 
"Tonight was eerily like the Seton Hall game. We came out and got off to a great start and were down three at the eight-minute media timeout," said Greg Herenda following the loss. "Give Penn State a ton of credit, they are long and talented and obviously their pressure really hurt us tonight."

"On nights like tonight, you have to look on the bright side and Mike Holloway was our shining star. Mike went toe-to-toe with (Mike) Watkins and their big guys and really played a great floor game on both ends," Herenda continued. "You have to give credit to Jahlil as well. He went into a BIG EAST and a Big Ten arena and averaged nine points and six assists in his first two collegiate games. We just took two hard hits but trust me, these nights will pay off big dividends for our team."

A sign of things to come, each team committed two miscues before Elyjah Williams laid in a putback off a miss for the first bucket of the game. Jenkins followed with a 3-pointer, and one minute later, Holloway followed by splashing a 3-pointer from the top of the arc, which gave the Knights an early 10-4 edge.
 
The Knights led by five at the first media timeout, while limiting the Nittany Lions to a 1-for-7 start from the field. A 4-for-4 start from long range aided the Knights, who built a seven-point lead, 14-7, just over six minutes into play. Unfortunately, the hot-shooting from distance would not last as the team finished just 1-of-6 from three-point range over the remainder of the game.
 
With Reaves serving as the catalyst, the Nittany Lions chipped away and led 26-23 at the under-eight media timeout. Reaves netted 12 of the team's first 26 points and knocked down both of his three-point attempts over that span.
 
PSU continued its surge and used a 13-2 run to open up its first double-digit lead, 39-25, with three minutes to play in the half before Jenkins put an end to the Nittany Lions' run with a determined layup in traffic.
 
The momentum continued in favor of the home team and culminated in the final play of the half. With 4.5 ticks to go, Carr stole an inbound pass in the Knights' backcourt and after diving to capture the steal, converted a buzzer-beating shot -- while sitting on the ground -- which put a cap on the half and sent the Nittany Lions into the break with a 45-29 advantage.
 
The Knights turned the ball over 15 times in the first half, while PSU committed 12 miscues. PSU registered a 48.3 percent clip from the field and went 3-of-8 (37.5%) from behind the arc, while the Knights shot 45.5 percent overall and finished the half 4-of-7 (57.1%) from downtown. The home team took advantage at the line where they converted 14-of-17 (82.4%) in the half compared to the Knights 5-of-10 (50%) effort.
 
In the second half, the Nittany Lions picked up where they left off as Carr converted a turnover into a two-handed jam for Watkins at the other end of the floor, which sparked a 7-0 PSU run to begin the stanza.
 
A jumper in the lane with 7:18 to go gave PSU its largest lead of the game, 28 points (70-42) but sophomore guard Pat McNamara answered with a 3-pointer for the Knights. McNamara's trey set off a string off 10 straight for the Knights, which was highlighted by a Holloway dunk that cut the deficit down to 18 with 4:31 remaining.
 
The Knights would get as close as 16 points, 73-57 with 2:27 to go, before the Nittany Lions closed the game by scoring the final eight points of the night.
 
FDU returns to the Rothman Center to host FDU-Florham in the home opener this Wednesday, November 15 at 7:00 p.m.