The Penn State Nittany Lions (18-15, 4-14 Big Ten) have advanced to the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament with a 67-58 win over the Iowa Hawkeyes (21-11, 21-6 Big Ten).
DJ Newbill came up big with 18 points for Penn State in the attempt; Ross Travis added 17 points and seven rebounds to the Nittany Lions’ total.
Penn State started out sluggishly, missing 17 of the team’s first 21 shots and went scoreless for a nine-minute stretch in the opening half.
Iowa could not find the target for almost five minutes, but hit an offensive stride with about five minutes remaining in the first half, and used a 10-2 run to open the Hawkeyes’ lead to 27-19 to head into the locker room.
The Hawkeyes started the second half with a 32-21 lead before the Nittany Lions scored 15 of the next 17 points.
Penn State had a narrow two-point lead until Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery was handed a technical foul that led to two made free throws and a pull-up jumper by Newbill with just under seven and a half minutes to play.
Aaron White finished with 21 points and 13 boards for the Hawkeyes; Jarrod Uthoff finished with 17 points and seven rebounds.
Penn State ended the first half with a 25 percent (7-28) shooting percentage; Iowa maintained 32 (8-25) percent. In the second half, Penn State shot 54 percent compared to Iowa’s 22 percent.
This is the Nittany Lions’ best tournament run since 2011 when they lost to Ohio State in the quarterfinals.
Penn State will play Purdue on Friday afternoon at 2:30 p.m.
Photo Credit: GoPSUSports.com
