Penn State Basketball Holds On, Beats Alabama 73-71
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) - Lamar Stevens scored 13 of his 18 points in the second half and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead Penn State to a 73-71 win over Alabama on Saturday.
Curtis Jones scored 18 points, Myreon Jones added 17 and Mike Watkins grabbed 10 rebounds for Penn State (9-2), which trailed 40-34 at halftime.
Alabama took its biggest lead of the afternoon, 52-43, on a Herbert Jones layup with 14:53 left.
But Penn State came back with a 14-5 run that featured six points from Curtis Jones and a 3-pointer from Myles Dread that made it 57-all just over three minutes later.
Galin Smith reclaimed the lead for Alabama with a pair of tough inside baskets, but Penn State got nine points from Stevens over the next 9:58. They fueled a 16-10 run to the finish for Penn State before Watkins came up with a block and steal on back-to-back Alabama possessions with less than a minute to play.
The Tide had a chance with five seconds left to in-bound the ball, but couldn't get a clean shot off.
James Bolden scored 15 points and Alex Reese added 12 for Alabama (4-5).
BIG PICTURE
Alabama: This was a solid start to a three-game road stretch for Alabama players who weren't deterred by Penn State's stingy defense.
Penn State: The Nittany Lions had trailed at home just once before this season and were able to recover from a sleepy start to keep their strong first half going.
UP NEXT
Alabama visits Stanford on Wednesday.
Penn State hosts Central Connecticut on Friday.
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