National Basketball Association
Penn St. 79, Minnesota 76
When: 1:00 PM ET, Sunday, March 8, 2015
Where: Williams Arena, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Officials:
# Pat Driscoll, # Glenn Mayborg, # Lamont Simpson
Attendance:
12412
By SportsDirect Inc.
Penn State 79, Minnesota 76: D.J. Newbill buried the game-winning 3-pointer in the final second and scored 12 of his 31 points in the last 5 1/2 minutes as the Nittany Lions stunned the host Golden Gophers.
Geno Thorpe added 14 points and Brandon Taylor scored 12 off the bench for Penn State (16-15, 4-14 Big Ten), which snapped a six-game slide. Newbill nailed a career-high five 3-pointers and went 11-of-22 from the field to go along with five rebounds and four assists for the Nittany Lions.
Maurice Walker collected a career-high 26 points and 11 rebounds for Minnesota (17-14, 6-12), which fell into 11th place in the Big Ten and will have to play on the first day of the conference tournament on Wednesday. Joey King added 19 points and Andre Hollins scored 13 in his final home game for the Golden Gophers.
Penn State led by 13 points early in the second half and was in front 63-54 before Minnesota got 3-pointers from King and Charles Buggs in a 12-2 run to take the lead with six minutes to play. It went back-and-forth into the final minute, and King split a pair of free throws with 14 seconds left to knot it at 76-76 before Newbill won it for the Nittany Lions.
Hollins scored the first 11 points of a 13-2 run – including three straight 3-pointers – to put Minnesota in front 17-12 with 11 1/2 minutes left in the first half, but Penn State scored the next 10 points to jump back in front. The Nittany Lions got hot from behind the arc in the in final five-plus minutes of the first half and closed with a 19-7 surge to go into the break ahead by nine.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Penn State reached 16 regular-season wins for the first time since 2011. … Newbill went for 20 points or more for the 16th time this season. … Minnesota, which leads the Big Ten in steals, managed only three against the Nittany Lions.
Top Game Performances
| Penn St. |
|
Minnesota |
|
D.J. Newbill 31 |
Scoring |
Maurice Walker 26 |
|
D.J. Newbill 4 |
Assists |
Joey King 4 |
|
Shep Garner 6 |
Rebounds |
Maurice Walker 11 |
|
D.J. Newbill 4 |
Free Throws Made |
Maurice Walker 10 |
|
D.J. Newbill 2 |
Steals |
Andre Hollins 1 |
|
Julian Moore 2 |
Blocks |
Charles Buggs 2 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| Penn St.
|
79 |
47.0 |
10-24 |
7-10 |
10 |
34 |
4 |
5 |
9 |
| Minnesota
|
76 |
44.6 |
8-21 |
18-23 |
16 |
28 |
4 |
3 |
9 |
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