Morning Box Score: Syracuse Routs DePaul, NU Beats Penn State
By Chuck Sudo in News on Jan 2, 2012 3:00PM
So how do Oliver Purnell's Blue Demons match up against the top-ranked college basketball team in the country? They don't. The Orangemen, to paraphrase Bulls analyst Stacey King, are too strong, too fast, too deep, too good. Orangemen center Fab Melo dominated the paint with his length and presence and tallied six blocked shots to go with his 12 points, five rebounds and two steals, while Syracuse forward Kris Joseph led the Orrangemen with 22 points. The Orangemen's defense swarming defense and depth kept pressure on the Blue Demons to move their record to 15-0. DePaul forward Cleveland Melvin led all scorers with 23 points. Blue Demons point guard Brandon Young was held scoreless.
Northwestern 68, Penn State 56
The saying goes, "Beat the teams you should." That's exactly what Northwestern did at Welsh-Ryan Arena yesterday in a win against the Nittany Lions, But they needed a strong second half to earn the "W." Drew Crawford became the 17th NU player to reach career 1,000 points in his first three years with a 24-point performance. Dave Sobolewski added 20 points and John Shurna scored 17 to bring NU back from a 26-23 halftime deficit.