Penn State Falls To Iowa In OT, 81-77

Mike Gesell (14), Gabriel Olaseni (12), Josh Oglesby (12) and Jarrod Uthoff (11) also scored in double figures for the Hawkeyes (19-10, 10-6 Big Ten), who were 25 of 27 from the free-throw line.

D.J. Newbill scored 19 points for Penn State (15-14, 3-13), which has lost 10 Big Ten games by nine points or fewer. Shep Garner added 17 points, Geno Thorpe 14 and Ross Travis 10 for the Nittany Lions.

Iowa won its fourth straight game, is 6-3 in conference road games and 6-2 in February. Penn State has not won since Feb. 7 and finished 1-6 in February games.

Uthoff started Iowa off in overtime with a 3-pointer and Gesell followed with another for a quick 74-68 lead. Thorpe scored Penn State's only two points in the first 2:10 of overtime. Iowa went cold and Newbill's four straight points tied the score at 74 with 47 seconds to play.

Gesell sank one free throw for an Iowa lead and Newbill followed with a turnover and White was fouled. White converted both free throws for a 77-74 lead and he added four more free throws to clinch the win.

White's slam off an assist by Ogelsby with 2:12 to play gave Iowa a 68-66 lead but neither team scored until Newbill converted two free throws to tie the game with 17 seconds to go.

Uthoff launched an off-target 3-pointer and Olaseni's tip-in attempt failed to send the game to overtime.

Both teams started the second half with strong shooting, Penn State with four long-range shots and Iowa controlling the offensive boards for tip-ins and layups. Six points each from White, Ogelsby and Peter Jok sparked the Hawks in the opening 10 minutes.

Three Penn State turnovers aided Iowa's surge to a 58-51 lead, but a Newbill 3-pointer, a Thorpe layup and a three-point play from Garner knotted the game at 61 with 6:24 to play.

TIP-INS

Iowa: Iowa is 18-1 this season when scoring 64 points or more. . The Hawkeyes' White has the country's highest percentage of points scored from free throws; 168 of his 446 points have come from the foul line. . White had averaged 18.4 points in Iowa's nine conference wins and 8.8 in the Hawkeyes' six losses. . The Hawks made their first 13 free-throw attempts.

Penn State: Newbill, who leads the Big Ten in scoring with a per-game scoring average of 20.5, scored just five points in 60 minutes - three vs. Northwestern on Feb. 21 and two in the first half against Iowa. . Newbill is six points short of 2,000 for his career and seven shy of 600 for the season. . Freshman Julian Moore made his first career start for Penn State and scored the team's first two points. . Penn State hit its first four 3-point attempts and missed its next seven in the first half. . Penn State forward Ross Travis was 7 of 35 from the free-throw line entering the game; it was the first game in which he's made more than one from the line. . Saturday's contest was the annual Coaches vs. Cancer game.

A LITTLE HELP, PLEASE

Penn State coach Patrick Chambers gave the Lions two days off after a 21-point loss at Northwestern on Feb. 21; he also asked head football coach James Franklin to speak to the squad. . Chambers this week received a vote of confidence from athletic director Sandy Barbour, who said that he would be Penn State's coach next season.

UP NEXT

Iowa: The Hawkeyes are at Indiana on Tuesday.

Penn State: The Nittany Lions entertain Ohio State on Wednesday.