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The Associated Press
UNIVERSITY PARK -- Yanic Konan Niederhauser matched his career high with 27 points and Ace Baldwin triggered the offense with 10 assists as Penn State cruised to an 87-64 win over Buffalo on Sunday afternoon.
The Nittany Lions (7-1) rebounded after suffering their first loss, 75-67 to Clemson last week in the Sunshine Slam championship game.
Baldwin hit a 3 with a minute left, then fed Niederhauser for a dunk to put Penn State up by 12 before Ryan Sabol hit to late free throws to make it 38-28 at halftime.
Freddie Dilione Jr. and Niederhauser hit back-to-back 3-pointers three minutes into the second half to push the lead to 44-31 and after Nick Kern Jr. scored at the basket and Zach Hicks knocked down a 3 to make it 50-36 with under 14 minutes left the Nittany Lions maintained their double-digit lead the rest of the way.
Penn State shot 56.5% from the field as a team (35 of 62), including 9 of 21 from behind the arc. Niederhauser was 12 of 16 shooting from the field, including 1 of 2 from distance to lead the effort. Dilione was 4 of 9 from beyond the arc and finished with 16 points to go with four assists. Kern came off the bench to add 12 points.
Buffalo shot 22 of 53 (41.5%), including 7 of 27 from distance. Sabol hit 5 of 12 from long range and was 4-for-4 at the line to lead Buffalo (4-4) with 19 points. Brayden Jackson was 5 of 7 from the floor off the bench and added 11 points.
BUFFALO (4-4): Oboh 0-2 0-0 0, Boldin 2-5 0-0 4, T.Dunn 3-8 0-0 6, Sabol 5-14 4-4 19, Batchelor 2-5 2-3 7, Michaels 3-8 2-2 9, Wilson 0-1 2-2 2, Jackson 5-7 1-2 11, Meinarts 1-2 0-0 2, Bradford 0-0 2-2 2, Akot 0-0 0-0 0, Migues-Hibeljic 1-1 0-1 2, McVeigh 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-53 13-16 64.
PENN ST. (7-1): Hicks 1-2 2-4 5, Konan Niederhauser 12-16 2-3 27, Baldwin 2-7 0-0 5, Dilione 6-13 0-0 16, Johnson 4-5 1-2 9, D.Dunn 3-5 0-0 7, Kern 5-10 2-2 12, Nzeh 1-2 1-2 3, Stewart 0-0 0-0 0, Carter 1-2 0-0 3, Ward 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 35-62 8-13 87.
Halftime--Penn St. 38-28. 3-Point Goals--Buffalo 7-27 (Sabol 5-12, Batchelor 1-3, Michaels 1-5, Jackson 0-1, Meinarts 0-1, Oboh 0-1, Boldin 0-2, T.Dunn 0-2), Penn St. 9-21 (Dilione 4-9, Hicks 1-1, Carter 1-2, D.Dunn 1-2, Konan Niederhauser 1-2, Baldwin 1-3, Johnson 0-1, Kern 0-1). Rebounds--Buffalo 24 (Meinarts 4), Penn St. 31 (Johnson 8). Assists--Buffalo 12 (Sabol 3), Penn St. 23 (Baldwin 10). Total Fouls--Buffalo 16, Penn St. 14. A--7,214 (15,261).