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BALTIMORE -- Ace Baldwin Jr. and Zach Hicks scored 19 points apiece and Penn State rolled to an 86-64 victory over Virginia Tech at the Hall of Fame Series on Friday night.
Baldwin added 10 assists for his first double-double of the season for the Nittany Lions (4-0). He made 5 of 11 shots from the floor and nine of his 10 free throws. Hicks hit five 3-pointers and added five rebounds and three steals.
Nick Kern came off the bench to score 16 for Penn State. He made 6 of 7 shots and 4 of 6 free throws. Fred Dilione V scored 11.
Baldwin was asked by reporters after the game if the Nittany Lions delivered a statement with the victory.
"I think that counts," Baldwin said. "We had a long week of practice. (Head) coach (Mike Rhoades) was on us the whole week, and I think we did good."
Mylyjael Poteat led the Hokies (3-1) with 15 points.
Hicks made three 3-pointers and scored 12 while Kern added 10 points on 4-for-4 shooting to lead Penn State to a 37-29 advantage at halftime. Poteat had 11 points at the break for the Hokies.
"We wanted to press. I didn't think we'd turn over Virginia Tech 24 times, but I just thought we had multiple guys really guard the ball in the back court hard," Rhoades said. "So even if we didn't get turnovers in the back court, we didn't let them get into their offense easily. Because if you do, we could run all those plays and all those counters and all those gadgets. So I just really liked our approach with the heat on the ball. We had some traps. Sometimes you just mess with them and all that stuff.
Kern hit a jumper with 7:47 remaining to give Penn State a 72-52 lead. The Nittany Lions had the lead for all but 32 seconds when the game was tied.
"At halftime, I just said we're going to have adversity. The number one thing is, how do you handle it? Do you go inward or will you be all about your team? I thought halftime we adjusted," Rhoades said. "There was no yelling. Nobody was complaining. It was that wasn't good enough. That's not to our standard.
The Nittany Lions shot 51% from the floor, made 8 of 22 from beyond the arc (36.4%) and 22 of 30 at the foul line.
Virginia Tech shot 44.4%, hit 5 of 18 from distance and 19 of 26 at the foul line.
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Penn State returns home to host Purdue-Fort Wayne on Wednesday. The Mastadons are 2-1 on the season with wins over Bethune-Cookman and Bluffton and a loss to Central Florida.
Virginia Tech will also head back home to play Jacksonville on Wednesday.
PENN ST. (4-0): Hicks 6-10 2-4 19, Konan Niederhauser 0-1 0-2 0, Baldwin 5-11 9-10 19, Dilione 3-7 3-4 11, P.Johnson 4-8 0-0 9, Kern 6-7 4-6 16, Nzeh 3-5 2-2 8, Dunn 1-4 2-2 4, Carter 0-1 0-0 0, Stewart 0-1 0-0 0, Sedora 0-0 0-0 0, Ward 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-55 22-30 86.
VIRGINIA TECH (3-1): Lawal 2-6 4-6 8, Poteat 4-8 7-9 15, Rechsteiner 2-6 1-2 6, Schutt 3-7 0-0 8, Young 1-6 0-0 2, T.Johnson 1-2 2-2 4, Hammond 2-4 0-1 4, Burnham 2-3 2-2 8, Wessler 1-1 3-4 5, Brown 1-1 0-0 2, Jones 1-1 0-0 2, Serven 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-45 19-26 64.
Halftime--Penn St. 37-29. 3-Point Goals--Penn St. 8-22 (Hicks 5-9, Dilione 2-4, P.Johnson 1-2, Carter 0-1, Stewart 0-1, Dunn 0-2, Baldwin 0-3), Virginia Tech 5-18 (Burnham 2-2, Schutt 2-6, Rechsteiner 1-4, T.Johnson 0-1, Lawal 0-1, Young 0-4). Fouled Out--Konan Niederhauser, Burnham. Rebounds--Penn St. 23 (Hicks, Dilione 5), Virginia Tech 31 (Lawal 9). Assists--Penn St. 16 (Baldwin 10), Virginia Tech 13 (Rechsteiner 5). Total Fouls--Penn St. 22, Virginia Tech 28. A--4,868 (14,000).