Team wins conference opener

The students weren't back yet and Assembly Hall was well short of capacity, but the 13,677 fans in attendance still had plenty to cheer about as the No. 15 Hoosiers defeated Penn State 78-65 Wednesday night.\nIU trailed by as many as eight in the first half but shook off the slow start to win their Big Ten opener. IU (11-2, 1-0 Big Ten) used two small runs in the second half to pull away from the Nittany Lions.\nThe Hoosiers led by only three at the half, but hot shooting by senior guard Kyle Hornsby got IU off to a quick second half start. Hornsby scored seven of his 12 points in the first three minutes of the second half.\nA basket and a foul led to a three point play by junior center George Leach and pushed the IU lead to 12 with 11:34 left to play. Penn State would get no closer than nine the rest of the way. \nCoach Mike Davis said he talked to Leach during halftime about playing with more intensity. \n"He did a great job tonight of really establishing himself," Davis said. "He got some rebounds he normally wouldn't get and made some plays offensively that he normally wouldn't make. Defensively he still needs to get his hands up. Guys get the ball and shoot over him."\nLeach and Davis exchanged words early in the first half when Leach was pulled. Leach sat the rest of the half, but Davis' talk put a spark into the junior center. He responded by scoring all eight of his points in the second half, pulling down four rebounds and blocking two shots.\n"It's about going out and doing the things I'm supposed to do: block shots, rebound, stay between my man and the basket, which I didn't do," Leach said. "I'm learning every game. Hopefully I get better. I felt fine both halves, but I felt like a factor in the second half."\nPenn State (5-7, 0-1) was led in the first half by senior guard Brandon Watkins. Watkins scored 14 of his game high 21 in the first half. Penn State played tough defense in the first half which limited IU's outside game. Penn State coach Jerry Dunn said that was the game plan against IU.\nThe Hoosiers responded with senior forward Jeff Newton. Newton scored 13 in the first half on his way to a 17 point, 12 rebound performance. PSU center Jan Jagla said the interior was tough to defend.\n"(IU's post players) are very athletic and very agile," Jagla said. "It's always hard to play against someone like that especially when they have an outside shot as well."\nIU led by as many as 17 points with nearly six minutes to go. Watkins said the lack of defensive intensity hurt Penn State. Dunn said his team could have done better late in the game.\n"I don't think we played one of our better games tonight," Dunn said. "But I thought we played well enough to put ourselves into position to have a chance to win. In order to finish it off, we got to do some things down the stretch, and I certainly don't feel like we did."\nThe Hoosiers had four players in double figures. Newton and freshman guard Bracey Wright each had 17 while senior guard Tom Coverdale added 14 points.\nDavis said he was impressed with the play of Penn State, adding they will win some Big Ten games if they continue to play at that level. He was also happy in the way the Hoosiers won the game. IU hit only five three pointers but still won by 13.\nWright said that Penn State came out and put up a good fight. But, Coverdale said the Hoosiers came out a little flat.\n"We overlooked them and looked at their record, but you can't do that," Coverdale said. "Any team can beat anybody on any given night. We just played a little more intense in the second half"