Northwestern Beats Penn State 60-39
EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) — Vic Law scored 17 points, Tre Demps added 16 and Northwestern beat Penn State 60-39 on Saturday afternoon.
Alex Olah added 10 points for the Wildcats (13-14, 4-10 Big Ten), who have won three straight after snapping a 10-game losing streak.
Geno Thorpe scored 13 points for Penn State, which scored a season-low point total and shot a season-low 27 percent. The Nittany Lions have lost four straight and six of seven.
Penn State's DJ Newbill, the Big Ten's leading scorer at 21.1 points per game, finished with three points on 1-for-6 shooting and nine rebounds. He scored his first points on a 3 with 1:25 remaining to cut the lead to 56-39.
The Nittany Lions (15-13, 3-12) also committed 14 turnovers and went 1 for 8 at the free-throw line in a meeting of teams in the bottom third of the Big Ten standings. Penn State's previous season lows for points and shooting percentage were 46 points and 29 percent against Rutgers on Jan. 3.
Northwestern shot 46 percent from the field. The Wildcats opened the second half with an 8-2 run for a 36-22 lead. Penn State pulled to within four, but Demps and Law hit back-to-back 3-pointers. Olah made two jumpers to extend Northwestern's lead to 50-36. Demps' 3 gave the Wildcats a 56-36 lead with 1:41 left.
The Wildcats led 28-20 at halftime. Penn State didn't make a 2-point shot until 3:37 remained before halftime. The Nittany Lions missed their first 13 shots inside the arc - including two free throws - before Thorpe made a layup to cut Northwestern's lead to 22-17.
The Nittany Lions shot 27 percent from the field (7 for 26) and went 5-for-13 from beyond the arc. Northwestern shot 40 percent from the field and went 3 for 11 on 3-pointers in the half. Garner had 9 points to lead Penn State and Law scored 9 to lead the Wildcats. Newbill was scoreless at halftime after shooting 0-for-4 from the field.
Both teams made only 3-pointers until Olah scored on a layup to cut Penn State's lead to 12-8 with 14:00 remaining before halftime. The teams combined for five turnovers during the game's first three minutes.
Penn State went scoreless for 7:23 until Garner hit a 3 to tie it 15-15.
The game is the lone meeting between the teams during the regular season.
TIP-INS
Penn State: Nine of the Nittany Lions' 11 losses in Big Ten action had been decided by single digits entering Saturday. . Penn State owned a 28-15 series advantage against Northwestern entering the game. The Nittany Lions won the meeting in Evanston last season, 59-32. Northwestern shot 23.3 percent from the field. . A Penn State web site (onwardstate.com) has been seeking donations to help cover coach Patrick Chambers' $10,000 fine from the Big Ten for criticizing the officials after the team's loss to Maryland on Feb. 14. More than $2,000 had been raised as of Saturday morning.
Northwestern: The Wildcats debuted dark gray uniforms while Penn State wore dark blue. . Junior center Alex Olah finished with two blocks to tie the school career record of 136 also held by John Shurna (2009-12). . Senior guard JerShon Cobb (foot/knee) missed the previous two games. . Northwestern made a season-high 15 3-pointers in its previous game against Minnesota. The total also tied for fourth-best for a single game in school history.
UP NEXT
Penn State: Hosts Iowa on Saturday.
Northwestern: Hosts Indiana on Wednesday.
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