Nov 16, 2004 2 min read

MORGANTOWN, W. Va. – West Virginia exploded for 56 points in the first half on its way to a 97-42 drubbing of visiting Pan American in a men’s exhibition basketball action on Monday night. The Mountaineers shot 54.8 percent from the field in the first half while holding Pan American to 29.6 percent in building a 37-point advantage.

Mike Gansey led West Virginia with 22 points, and D’or Fischer followed with 16 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Johannes Herber contributed 10 points, seven boards, five assists, five steals and a blocked shot.

Also hitting double digits in scoring for WVU were Tyrone Sally with 14 and Kevin Pittsnogle, who came off the bench for 13 along with nine rebounds.

All of Pan American’s scoring came from four players, including a team-high 20 points by Gerson Harnandez.

Penn State 78, Western Carolina 63

MILWAUKEE (AP) – Danny Morrissey scored 16 points to lead Penn State to a 78-63 victory in the second round of the BCA Classic.

Marlon Smith added 14 points, Aaron Johnson 13, Ben Luber 11 and Geary Claxton 10 for the Nittany Lions. Johnson also had 24 rebounds.

Penn State (1-1) won in the consolation bracket for teams that lost first-round games Sunday.

Eight teams in the tournament are playing games three days in a row through Tuesday.

David Berghoefer scored 19 and Kyle Greathouse hit five 3-pointers and had 17 points to lead Western Carolina (0-2).

The Nittany Lions extended their eight-point halftime lead to 42-31 when Ben Luber made a 3-pointer to open second half scoring. The Catamounts pulled within seven at 44-37 on another Greathouse 3-pointer, but the Nittany Lions scored six straight points including four by Claxton for a 51-37 advantage. The Catamounts never got that close the rest of the game.

Smith scored 11 points to lead Penn State to a 39-31 halftime lead.