Mount St. Mary's Mountaineers at Penn State Nittany Lions

Penn State rallies past Mount St. Mary's 92-82

Johnson, who transferred from Pittsburgh in December 2012, was eligible to play for the first time against the Mountaineers. He scored 15 of his team-high 20 points in the second half.

Four other Nittany Lions (9-4) scored in double figures: D.J. Newbill scored 18, Tim Frazier 15, Ross Travis 14 and Brandon Taylor 10.

For Mount St. Mary's (3-8), Julian Norfleet led the way with 22 points. Sam Prescott added 18 points, Rashad Whack 16 and Byron Ashe 14.

Penn State opened the second half with a 6-0 run to cut the Mountaineer lead to 46-43, but Mount St. Mary's wasn't ready to cede the lead without a fight.

Johnson hit a bucket with 12:14 left to tie the game at 65-65 and for the next 6 minutes, it was a back-and-forth affair.

Penn State took the lead with 5:55 left on two free throws by Newbill. Frazier pushed the lead to 4 on a driving layup.

Mount St. Mary's, however, had one push left. Taylor Danaher threw down a dunk on an inbounds play. On the next possession, Norfleet converted a driving layup to tie the game at 80-80.

Penn State, though, took the lead for the good as Frazier hit a bucket, Travis made a bucket and then grabbed a rebound and made a stick-back and Geno Thorpe took a pass off a steal and made a layup.

That pushed the Nittany Lion lead to 88-80 and the teams traded foul shots for the final minute of the game.

Penn State, which finished non-conference play with a 9-4 mark, starts Big Ten play at 5 p.m. New Year's Eve when it entertains Michigan State.

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