Penn State men’s basketball (8-1) fended off a comeback effort to defeat the Campbell Fighting Camels (3-5) by a score of 87-76 Tuesday night at the Bryce Jordan Center.

In the Nittany Lions’ final game before Big Ten play gets underway, they had four players score more than 15 points and shut down a late Campbell comeback effort to defend their home floor.

How It Happened

Penn State rolled out a starting five of Kayden Mingo, Dominick Stewart, Melih Tunca, Josh Reed, and Ivan Juric.

With the student section chanting “Let’s go Lions,” Penn State’s defense held strong on the first possession of the game to force a shot-clock violation, while Stewart missed a three on the other end.

Cam Gregory started the scoring for Campbell, but Mingo quickly responded with an and-one and converted at the line. Dovydas Butka scored four straight points for Campbell, while one Juric free throw and a Reed floater had it tied at 6-6. Reed then went down with a lower-body injury on the next possession.

Mingo got a steal and fastbreak layup just before the game’s first media timeout, and Penn State got the ball back after it with another forced 30-second violation. However, DJ Smith hit a deep three to retake the lead at 9-8. Then, with 13:29 left in the first half, Reed reentered the game.

Off the bench, Freddie Dilione V got his first points with an and-one, while another Smith triple and a Mingo contested layup tied it at 12-12. Chris Fields Jr. got on the scoreboard and Reed airballed a corner three before the under-12 media timeout. Out of the break, Fields scored again down low.

Dilione answered with an elbow jumper, but the Fighting Camels went up five when Mutombo Kalambay stuck a three from the left wing. Tibor Mirtic spun to the basket and scored his first points and Stewart assisted Mingo for a fastbreak layup to make it a one-point game and force a Campbell timeout.

Two free throws from Dilione gave the Nittany Lions a brief lead, but Tasos Cook ended a drought of more than two minutes for Campbell with one foul shot. Head coach John Andrzejek then called his second timeout. Out of the huddle, his team gave up a third shot-clock violations.

Tunca’s first bucket came on a high-arcing underhand layup, and he responded with an assist to Sasa Ciani on the following trip down the floor. Dilione then scored a mid-range bucket, extending the run to 12-1, but Smith quickly ended it with another deep three.

An inside bucket by Reed was answered by Cook and Butka twos, cutting Campbell’s deficit to one ahead of the first half’s final media timeout. Juric committed a turnover, leading to a Fields runout and layup through a foul, but he couldn’t hit at the charity stripe.

Mingo and Kalambay traded two-point baskets before another Penn state turnover gave Smith an easy lay-in, giving Campbell a 33-30 lead with 2:52 to go in the first half and leading to a Mike Rhoades timeout.

In the ensuing 13 seconds, the Nittany Lions went on a 6-0 spurt to go up by three, and Dilione continued to light it up with another five points, with Campbell getting buckets from Muneer Nelson and Butka during that stretch. Then, after scores by Mingo and Butka, Reed hit a corner three at the buzzer, and Penn State took a 46-39 lead into halftime.

Josh Reed closes out the half from distance @PennStateMBB

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— Big Ten Men's Basketball (@B1GMBBall) December 2, 2025

The second half got underway with a Newton second-chance score at the rim, but Juric went on a solo 4-0 run. However, Newton grabbed an offensive rebound and converted an and-one, but Penn State once again had an answer with a Stewart three and two Reed foul shots.

Jeremiah Johnson got on the board with a pair of free throws, but a Juric layup off a flashy Tunca pass extended the Penn State lead back to 11. Mirtic scored on the fastbreak, Johnson scored again inside, and Dilione stayed perfect from the field to reach 15 points, and Penn State took a 61-48 lead into the first media timeout.

Penn State’s offense went cold over the next couple minutes as Campbell made it a single-digit deficit, but the seven-footer Juric connected on a straightaway three to end the drought and Reed bullied his way inside for two more, while Smith airballed a long three before the media timeout with 10:44 remaining.

Out of the break, Fields threw down a two-handed slam, made a free throw, and Johnson made a three to make it an eight-point game. Juric got two back for Penn State before the media timeout, which was followed up by a Butka free throw and Fields layup.

Mirtic scored a third-chance tip-in, but Campbell was then back within six as Smith hit his fourth three. Juric then muscled his way for a deuce and Penn State took a 74-66 lead into the game’s final media stoppage.

Smith canned a corner three to bring Campbell to down five with just over three minutes to go, but Reed answered from the same spot on the other end. However, Johnson hit another one for Campbell, this time from the wing.

Tunca made both shots of his one-and-one to make it 79-72, while Johnson did the same for the Fighting Camels. With 1:36 on the clock, Mingo made a nice move and cruised to the rim for a layup before Dilione connected on two free throws, and it became time to foul for Campbell.

Mingo went 2-for-2 and Campbell called a timeout with 45 ticks on the clock. Eight seconds later, Mingo made two more at the stripe. Smith scored once more, but Stewart dribbled out the remaining seconds and Penn State held on for an 87-76 victory.

Takeaways

• The turnover battle, which was an issue last season, swayed 17-7 in favor of Penn State, and the Nittany Lions capitalized with 22 points off those Campbell giveaways.
• After Rhoades said he wanted his team to be in the range of shooting 28-32 threes per game, the Nittany Lions only attempted 13, making five of them.
• Mingo, Penn State’s star freshman guard had an efficient 15 points on 7-for-9 shooting in the first half, but went 1-for-6 for six points in the second.

What’s Next?

Penn State will travel to No. 22 Indiana for its Big Ten opener at 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, December 9. The game will be televised on Big Ten Network.