STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- John Giannini couldn't pin it on one thing.
From an offensive and defensive perspective, La Salle's head coach said everything went wrong during Penn State's dominating eight-minute stretch in the second half -- a 17-4 run that ultimately led to the Explorers' 79-72 loss Tuesday night at the Bryce Jordan Center (see Instant Replay).
The Nittany Lions (3-1) were sharing the basketball and clamping down defensively on the Explorers (2-2) both in the paint and on the perimeter.
To put it simply, Giannini believed the Lions outplayed his squad in that given time frame.
"I think we struggled to score [and] we struggled to stop them," Giannini said. "It snowballed on us."
Down 56-52 with still 12 minutes to go in regulation, Penn State made its move.
Three unanswered layups followed by an uncontested three-pointer by forward Donovon Jack gave the Lions the lead and momentum with 4,240 fans behind them. That particular run stretched from the 12:07 mark to 4:14 of the second stanza.
After digging itself into a bigger hole, La Salle cut Penn State's lead to seven with 3:24 left to play.
That's when the Lions' backcourt duo of Tim Frazier and D.J. Newbill puts things out of reach.
Following two made La Salle free throws, Newbill, a Strawberry Mansion product, quarterbacked the inbound, noticed a streaking Frazier up the middle of the court and let it fly. Frazier hauled in the pass and beat his defender to the rim for a one-handed dunk that brought the crowd to its feet and the Explorers' hearts to the floor.
But as Giannini noted, it wasn't just one thing -- or in this case, one play -- that generated Penn State's second-half momentum.
To Penn State coach Patrick Chambers, it was his guys playing with chemistry.
"Those guys like to play together," Chambers said. "As you can see with our assists, we really shared the basketball. Sometimes they were scrambling, and I think that was the difference."
Four different Lions scored buckets in their domineering run -- all of which were starters.
The only member of Penn State's starting five that didn't score in that frame was Frazier. The savvy senior guard, who entered the game averaging 22.3 points per game, didn't lead his team in scoring against the Explorers. Instead, Frazier distributed the ball across the floor, dropping 11 assists and turning the ball over just once while still scoring a modest 15 points on the evening.
Penn State's leading scorer, rather, was Jack, who scored a career-high 18 points while knocking down four threes.
Explorers' big man Steve Zack wasn't even aware the 6-foot-9 forward was capable of making shots from behind the arc.
"I thought he had more of a mid-range game," Zack said. "When you have guards like Frazier and Newbill, you have to have your big out there helping, and that's what opened the pick-and-pop for them and they did a great job executing."
Penn State did utilize its bigs well in the second half, whether it was Jack or Brandon Taylor, who finished with 15 points and eight rebounds.
However, the Explorers also made use of Zack early on and found success with high ball-screens in the first half.
Zack, who finished with 12 points (10 of which in the first half), was left open on the low block after setting screens up top, exposing Penn State's determined commitment to weather La Salle's guards.
The Lions adjusted accordingly by dropping into a zone defense in the second half, which Chambers said aided his team's overall defensive effort.
"They do a great job of throwing quick one-handed bounce passes between the blitz to a big man rolling hard. So, we just went under the ball screen and stayed home ... That minor adjustment did help us out," Chambers said.
That strategy opened up opportunities for La Salle's guards on the outside, but the Explorers' main men, Tyreek Duren and Tyrone Garland, didn't have their best performances overall.
Duren scored 16 points and doled out four assists on the night, but didn't take advantage of some of the fast-break opportunities he had in the second half. Garland, on the other hand, made just 6 of 18 shot attempts despite leading the team with 18 points.
The Explorers look to shore things up in the U.S. Virgin Islands where they tip off the Paradise Jam tournament against Morgan State on Friday.
Penn State will stay put in State College and play next against Longwood on Sunday.