UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Jinwoo Kim and Donovan Draper combined for 47 points in a narrow 80-71 loss by the Navy men's basketball team (1-2) to Penn State (3-0), Tuesday night at the Bryce Jordan Center in University Park, Pa.

"I thought we played really hard," said Navy head coach Jon Perry, who had served as an assistant at Penn State for six seasons.  "I liked our improvement from our last game against Yale.

"The one statistic that stands out is turnovers.  Penn State had 17 points off of our turnovers.  But I really loved our effort.  Every time Penn State started to stretch the score, we would respond.  I thought Draper and Kim really gave us some good minutes.  Overall, we can learn and grow from this."

Penn State held a 12-9 lead when it hit a trio of three-point field goals during a run that gave it a 24-15 lead with just over 11 minutes left in the half.  

Navy slowly clawed back to within six at 29-23, but soon trailed by 11 at both 29-18 (8:18) and 34-23 (3:19).  However, the Mids went into halftime down by just six points at 38-32.  

Navy quickly made it a two-point game at 38-36 in the early stages of the second half.  It then was a three-point game at 44-41 when Kim had a baseline three-point attempt, but his game-tying effort bounced off the front of the rim and over the basket.  Penn State grabbed the rebounds and hit a triple on its ensuing possession and then, after the Mids came away with an empty time down the floor, scored a basket in the paint to take a 49-41 lead  with 15:40 on the clock.  The Nittany Lions would expand their advantage to 11 points at 54-43.

Navy again made a run and had two possessions with the ball while trailing by six points at 57-51.  The first one ended with a turnover and the second with a missed shot.  The teams traded baskets (59-53), then Penn State built a 63-53 lead with just over eight minutes remaining on the clock.

The Mids were not finished as a three-point basket by Kim made it a 63-58 game with 6:30 still to play.  A Penn State turnover gave the ball back to Navy, which converted on a jumper by Kim to make it a three-point game at 63-60.  The Nittany Lions made a basket and foul shot on the other end to stretch the lead to 65-60.  A missed shot by Navy was followed by a Penn State basket on the other end that made it a 68-60 game with five minutes left.  A turnover by the Mids was followed by a pair of Penn State made free throws with 4:05 left to play to take the lead to 10 points.

The margin would be at least eight points over the remainder of the game.

"They (Penn State) run some really good actions," said Perry.  "They stretch your defense and put you in some rotations, especially when they have some shooters to stretch the floor.  Defensively, we didn't do a couple of things that we needed to, and offensively I think we had some untimely turnovers."

The shooting percentages between the teams were similar across the box score.  Navy shot 48.1 percent (26-54) from the floor, 6-17 (35.3%) from three-point range and 92.9 percent (13-14) from then foul line.  On the other end, Penn State made 49.2 percent (30-61) of its shots, 31.6 percent (6-19) of its three-point attempts and 77.8 percent (14-18) of its foul shots.

The Nittany Lions outrebounded the Mids by just one board, 30-29.  Navy committed 16 turnovers and forced only nine, but Penn State held just a 17-15 edge in points after those turnovers.  Other stats of notes saw the Nittany Lions lead 17-10 in second-chance points, 20-8 in fast break points and 36-6 in bench points.

Individually, Kim set a career high in points for the second game in a row.  He scored 16 points Friday against Yale and then tallied 25 points tonight.  He was 5-10 from three-point range and 8-16 from the field in all.

"I think he (Kim) is more accountable," said Perry of Kim's play this season.  "He is playing with some confidence, he has worked on his game in the spring and the summer.  He has two years under his belt and his fully recovered from his knee injury as a freshman.  His hard work is starting to show.  And the team believes in him.  He is doing a good of running the floor in transition and we are able to find him."

Draper notched a double-double of 22 points and 12 rebounds this evening.  He was 8-12 from the floor and 6-6 from the foul line and also added four assists.  Austin Benigni ended the game with 12 points, 8 assists and 4 steals.

Navy will be in Alumni Hall Friday for a 6 p.m. game against Washington (Md.) College.