Demps Leads Northwestern Past Penn State
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — As Chris Collins and Patrick Chambers watched their players during Thursday's shootaround, both coaches knew they'd soon be playing for a measure of respect each hoped his team would have already earned by this point of the season.
It would have to come at the other's expense, as Northwestern and Penn State, hopeful this would be the year each could turn a corner in a rugged Big Ten Conference, entered the season's penultimate game on familiar, ho-hum trajectories.
"We're at similar junctures," said Collins, whose Wildcats outlasted the Nittany Lions, 71-61. "We're in a heck of a league, battling to try to fight for our own program's respect and notoriety in the league. Anytime we play against Penn State, I know it's going to be an absolute war and you're going to have to play incredibly hard to beat them. I thought we did that tonight."
Tre Demps scored 23 points to lead Northwestern's effort and Bryant McIntosh added 17 points to help the Wildcats (19-11, 7-10 Big Ten) to their second straight win and third in their last five.
Brandon Taylor scored 17 points for the Nittany Lions, who lost their second straight. Shep Garner added 13 points and Josh Reaves chipped in 11 for Penn State (15-15, 6-11), which is still one win shy of its best conference mark under Chambers.
Northwestern, ready for a stingy zone defense that slowed the Wildcats in a 71-62 loss in mid-January, started hot. The Wildcats shot 63 percent from the field, making 17 of 27 shots, with Demps scoring 19 points in the first half. Demps made his second field goal 6:41 into the game to give his team the lead for good.
Penn State went 0 for 5 over the final five minutes and McIntosh hit a jumper at the buzzer to give Northwestern a 42-27 halftime lead.
"I just felt like they played harder than us in the first half," Chambers said. "In the second half, we responded. It was too big of a lead to overcome."
Both teams struggled through early second-half shooting woes despite finishing with nine 3-pointers apiece. They combined to go 2 of 10 from the field over the first five minutes.
As Collins scratched his head along Northwestern's bench, Penn State fans began to howl when Garner air-balled a shot 3:20 into the half. The Nittany Lions still hadn't scored nearly five minutes in, and a handful of open looks for Demps, who was especially cold, came up short.
With Taylor in foul trouble most of the way, Chambers opted to go with four guards and switch to man defense. It worked. Demps continued to struggle to find the stroke he had in the first half and Penn State began to make shots.
Demps missed his first six shots of the second half as Penn State put together a 21-11 run to pull within five with 8:35 to play. The Nittany Lions did so with five 3-pointers from three different players in a span of 5:38 and eventually cut Northwestern's lead to 55-51 on a pair of Garner free throws with 5:57 left.
But the Nittany Lions wouldn't get any closer and Demps finally broke out of his second-half scoring drought on a drive to the basket that also drew a foul. Demps made his free throw and his 3-point play sparked a 14-10 run the Wildcats used to close out the game.
They made 4 of 6 free throws to cap the scoring.
"I thought Tre's 3-point play when it was a four-point game was probably the biggest bucket of the game," Collins said. "We were bleeding a little bit, they had a tremendous amount of confidence, their energy was going."
BIG SHOTS
When Demps lost his shooting touch midway through, Aaron Falzon chipped in six points to pad his team's lead while Penn State took off on its big run.
The freshman opened the half with a 3-pointer then hit another nearly nine minutes later to snap his team out of a 2-for-13 skid.
"I see a lot of young kids out there getting better," Collins said. "Hopefully, that'll help us as we continue to build our program."
Meanwhile, McIntosh scored 10 of his 17 points in the second half.
TIP-INS
Northwestern: The Wildcats turned 13 Penn State turnovers in 23 points.
Penn State: The Nittany Lions got 25 points off the bench with Reaves' 11 leading the way. The freshman added five assists. ... Penn State won the rebounding battle 31-26.
UP NEXT
Northwestern hosts Nebraska on Sunday.
Penn State hosts Illinois on Sunday.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press.
