STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – Yale shut down Penn State's high-powered offense for much of Saturday's game. The Nittany Lions, though, got hot at the end and escaped with a hard-fought 58-56 victory over the Bulldogs at the Bryce Jordan Center.
 
Penn State needed a Myles Dread three-pointer with 56 seconds left, which capped a 12-0 Nittany Lions run, to escape with the win.
 
Yale (3-3) had a chance to win in the final seconds, but Matthue Cotton's three-pointer was off the front of the rim as time expired.
 
"We played really well for 36 minutes," said James Jones, The Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of the Bulldogs. "We had some missed opportunities at the end, and that hurt us."
 
Azar Swain, who scored a career-high 25 points in Wednesday's triple overtime victory, followed that up with another strong outing, tossing in 24 points. Paul Atkinson added 12 points and eight rebounds, Jordan Bruner had eight points and nine rebounds and Cotton finished with seven points.
 
Izaiah Brockington paced Penn State with 15 points, and Lamar Stevens added 13 points and 13 rebounds.
 
The Bulldogs had the lead for 37 minutes, 30 seconds of the game.
 
The Nittany Lions, who received votes in this week's national coaches poll and improved to 5-0 with the win, came into the game averaging 88 points. Yale held them to to 33.3 percent shooting from the field, but Penn State made five of its last eight shots down the stretch.
 
"The crowd got into it and I think that gave them some energy," Jones said. "That's the beauty of playing at home."
 
The Bulldogs played an outstanding first half, holding Penn State to just 21 points in building a 31-21 lead.
 
Yale's advantage grew to as many as 16 points in the second half before Penn State rallied.
 
Swain continued his stellar play. He was 9-of-18 from the field, including 6-of-13 from three-point range.
 
"Azar is a tremendous shooter, and he's a tough kid," Jones said. "His role has grown this year. Last year he was coming off the bench, playing 20 minutes. Now he's playing 35 minutes so he is getting more of an opportunity."
 
The game, part of the NIT Season Tip-Off, was a homecoming for Jalen Gabbidon, a Harrisburg, Pa., native. He scored five points, including a driving dunk early in the first half.

Penn State head coach was impressed with the Bulldogs.

Give credit to Yale and coach [James] Jones, they got a really good team," he said. "That's an NCAA Tournament team. They know how to win. They know how to play."
 
Yale now moves on to ESPN's Wide World of Sports Complex for two more NIT games starting Monday vs. Western Michigan at noon.