Sophomore guard Tony Carr toyed with a triple-double to lead Penn State to a season-opening 86-75 win over the Campbell Fighting Camels on Friday at Bryce Jordan Center in University Park, Pa.

Penn State's leading scorer from last season, Carr picked up where he left off and scored 33 points, grabbed nine rebounds and handed out seven assists.

Chris Clemons, the 5-foot-9-inch preseason Player of the Year in the Big South, and the nation's leading returning scorer at 25.1 points per game, paced the Fighting Camels (0-1) with 39 points.

The Nittany Lions (1-0), who endured a disappointing 15-18 campaign last season, are a veteran group and it showed on Friday.

With a chance to essentially put the game away early in the second half, the Nittany Lions pounced on the opportunity by outscoring the Fighting Camels 10-3 in the first four minutes to open up a 46-31 lead.

After the margin grew to 17 points at 61-44, the Fighting Camels staged a comeback and got to within six when center Mogga Lado's tip-in made the score 61-55 with just over six minutes left in the game.

But the Nittany Lions scored the next six points to open up another double-digit lead. Campbell made one last run and cut the deficit to seven on a 3-pointer by Damontez Oliver with 1:28 left in the game.

Clemons followed with a layup and the Fighting Camels trailed 75-70 with less than a minute to go.

Carr answered with a layup and free throw and then sank two more free throws on Penn State's next possession to seal the game.

Campbell, which went 19-18 overall last season and reached the CIT semifinals, went toe-to-toe with Penn State in the first half. Clemons connected on a 3-point jumper to tie the game at 20 with just under seven minutes to go.

Carr followed with a pair of free throws to ignite a 16-8 run that gave the Nittany Lions their eight-point lead at intermission.