National Basketball Association
Penn St. 68, Nebraska 65
When: 4:30 PM ET, Wednesday, March 11, 2015
Where: United Center, Chicago, Illinois
Officials:
# D.J. Carstensen, # Buddy Mayborg, # Paul Szelc
Attendance:
3605
By SportsDirect Inc.
Penn State 68, Nebraska 65: D.J. Newbill tallied 26 points and a career-high four blocks while Geno Thorpe hit a pair of free throws with four seconds remaining as the Nittany Lions edged the Cornhuskers in the first round of the Big Ten tournament in Chicago.
Freshman Shep Garner added a season-high 19 points for No. 13 seed Penn State (17-15), which faces fifth-seeded Iowa in Thursday’s second round. Brandon Taylor provided eight points, six boards and five rejections off the bench as the Nittany Lions set a tournament record with a school-record 16 blocked shots.
Terran Petteway hit four first-half 3-pointers and finished with a game-high 29 points for No. 12 seed Nebraska (13-18), which dropped its ninth straight game to match its longest losing streak since 2002-03 despite grabbing 24 offensive rebounds and winning the battle of the glass 51-34. Shavon Shields posted his second double-double of the season with 20 points and 10 boards, but missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer in the waning seconds.
After misfiring on its first two 3-point attempts out of the break, Penn State connected on its next four – two each from Newbill and Garner – during a second-half opening 17-6 surge that left the Nittany Lions with a 16-point advantage with 15:47 remaining. Nebraska staged a furious rally over the following six minutes, scoring the next 14 points to pull within 51-49 midway through the second half on a 3-pointer from Tai Webster.
Penn State refused to give up the lead, however, getting another 3-pointer from Garner and a three-point play from Newbill on consecutive possessions and pushed its edge back out to eight less than two minutes later. The Cornhuskers closed within one twice down the stretch - the second time coming with 43 seconds left after a pair of late free throws from Petteway - but were unable to secure a late rebound with six seconds to go that could have given them a chance to score the go-ahead bucket on the other end.
GAME NOTEBOOK: The Nittany Lions’ previous school record for blocked shots was 13 against Lehigh on Dec. 6, 1998. … Nebraska, which entered Wednesday averaging a conference-low 8.4 offensive rebounds and ranked second-to-last in total rebounds (32.4), posted its most offensive boards since collecting 24 against Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Nov. 23, 2004, and recorded its most total rebounds since corralling 52 against Texas Tech on Feb. 27, 2010. … Newbill's four blocks were one more than he tallied in his first 31 games this season combined and the first time he recorded more than one in a contest.
Top Game Performances
| Penn St. |
|
Nebraska |
|
D.J. Newbill 26 |
Scoring |
Terran Petteway 29 |
|
Shep Garner 2 |
Assists |
Shavon Shields 4 |
|
Devin Foster 8 |
Rebounds |
Moses Abraham 10 |
|
D.J. Newbill 4 |
Free Throws Made |
Terran Petteway 11 |
|
Shep Garner 3 |
Steals |
Benny Parker 2 |
|
Brandon Taylor 5 |
Blocks |
David Rivers 1 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| Penn St.
|
68 |
41.8 |
9-22 |
13-22 |
8 |
29 |
16 |
8 |
13 |
| Nebraska
|
65 |
30.2 |
5-14 |
22-31 |
11 |
43 |
2 |
6 |
14 |
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