UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Penn State's Shep Garner scored a game-high 26 points as the Nittany Lions topped the Columbia men's basketball team, 79-65, Friday night. Mike Smith led the Lions (1-2) with 18 points and tied a career-high with six assists.

Columbia scored the first five points of the game, highlighted by a good start from Patrick Tapé, who grabbed four early rebounds and added a block before the first media timeout. However, a Quinton Adlesh 3-pointer was the only points for the Lions for a stretch of 6:53 and PSU built a 22-8 lead.

Trailing 36-25 with 2:58 to go in the half, Columbia closed the period on a 10-2 run, capped by a Gabe Stefanini off-balance 3-pointer from the left wing as the horn sounded to cut the deficit to three at the break.

Penn State capitalized on five early turnovers in the first five minutes of the second period to bring the advantage up to 51-40 at the 14:49 mark. Later in the action, Smith was fouled shooting a 3-pointer and buried all three free throws to make it 51-46 with 12:39 before a big run by the Nittany Lions sealed the deal.

A 14-0 run pushed the PSU margin to 19 with 8:19 on the clock and never led by less than 10 the rest of the way.

Tapé finished with eight points, seven rebounds and two blocks. Adlesh scored 11 points, all in the first half, and grabbed a career-best six rebounds. Nate Hickman played all 40 minutes and posted 11 points and six boards.

The Lions shot 8-of-19 from downtown (42.1 percent), but just 15-40 (35.5 percent) from inside the arc.

Penn State's Mike Watkins was a force inside with 11 points, 14 rebounds and six blocks.

The Lions are back in action Tuesday, November 21 at Army West Point for a 7 p.m. contest. The game is available via the Patriot League Network. A free audio broadcast is also available on the Ivy League Network.

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Season and individual non-conference tickets are on sale now. To purchase, visit gocolumbialions.com/tickets, call 888-LIONS-11.