Five Minutemen In Double Figures As UMass Rolls Penn State, 81-56

AMHERST, Mass. – Five Minutemen scored in double figures as the Massachusetts men's basketball team rolled to an 81-56 win over Penn State on Monday night in the Mullins Center. Trent Buttrick led the Minutemen (2-1 Overall) with a game-high 19 points as UMass picked up its first win over a Big Ten opponent since a win over Nebraska on Nov. 21, 2013.

Buttrick, a Penn State transfer, scored 16 of his 19 points in the second half on his way to finishing with a career-high in points. The forward scored 11 points in the first six minutes of the second as the UMass lead bloomed to 16 points with 14 minutes remaining at 53-37. Buttrick added nine rebounds, six assists, three steals and two blocks.

C.J. Kelly added 17 points on 5-of-9 from the field in 30 minutes off the bench for the Minutemen, including a jumper to tie it up at 12-12 with 11:32 left in the first before dropping in his first 3-pointer at the 9:05 mark to give UMass a 17-16 advantage.

Rich Kelly converted on 6-of-10 from the field and on 4-of-7 from range on his way top finishing with 17 points and four steals. The guard helped UMass extend its lead to nine points at 37-28 in the final stretch of the first half with five points over the final six minutes as the Minutemen took a 37-33 advantage into the locker room at halftime.

Noah Fernandes and Dibaji Walker each finished in double figures in scoring with 13 and 10 points, respectively. Walker scored eight points in the final five minutes of the first half, including back-to-back triples that was capped off by a pull up 3-pointer with 1:53 left to extend the UMass lead to seven, the largest up to that point.

UMass drained 13-of-29 attempts from 3-point range to finish at nearly 47-percent for the night as a team while shooting 48-percent from the field. The Minutemen converted on five of their first seven 3-point attempts to start the second half.

The Minutemen head to St. Petersburg, Fla. for three games in four days at the Jersey Mike's Classic and open the week with a matchup against Weber State on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. on CBS Sports Network.

For complete coverage of the UMass men's basketball team, follow the Minutemen on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at @UMassBasketball and online at www.UMassAthletics.com.

Scoreboard

Five Minutemen In Double Figures As UMass Rolls Penn State, 81-56

Next Event

Team Stats

Trent Buttrick

C.J. Kelly

Rich Kelly

Noah Fernandes

Players Mentioned

Trent Buttrick

Noah Fernandes

C.J. Kelly

Rich Kelly

Dibaji Walker

Players Mentioned

Trent Buttrick

Noah Fernandes

C.J. Kelly

Rich Kelly

Dibaji Walker

Scoreboard

University of Massachusets Athletics