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The Associated Press
UNIVERSITY PARK -- Yanic Konan Niederhauser and Zach Hicks each scored 19 points, D'Marco Dunn added 17 and Penn State routed Nebraska 89-72 on Wednesday night to end a seven-game losing streak.
Penn State (14-13, 4-12 Big Ten) won its first game since topping Rutgers 80-72 on Jan. 20. That win snapped a four-game skid.
Penn State opened the game on a 14-2 run and went ahead by double figures for good with 12:43 left before halftime.
Konan Niederhauser scored 15 points in the first half, after making all five of his shots, to help Penn State build a 50-27 lead. The Nittany Lions shot 66.7 percent from the field and went 11 of 12 at the free-throw line.
Penn State's lead did not drop below 16 points in the second half.
Freddie Dilione V scored 12 points, and Ace Baldwin Jr. and Nick Kern Jr. each added 10 for Penn State.
A bright spot
Connor Essegian led Nebraska (17-10, 7-9) with 20 points and Andrew Morgan scored a season-best 18. Brice Williams had 17 points and five assists.
Not a bright spot
Nebraska had 11 turnovers and just nine made field goals in the first half. The Cornhuskers finished 28 of 54 (52.9 percent) from the field with 16 turnovers.
Up next
Penn State goes on the road to play Minnesota on Saturday. Nebraska has the weekend off before hosting No. 12 Michigan on Monday.
Down the stretch
Penn State needs to escape from the bottom three teams in the Big Ten standings to make the postseason tournament.
After Minneosta, the Nittany Lions still have road games at Indiana and Wisconsin (No. 11) and a home game with Maryland (No. 20).
NEBRASKA (17-10): Gary 1-7 4-4 6, Morgan 8-8 2-3 18, Hoiberg 0-1 0-0 0, Williams 6-11 3-3 17, Worster 3-6 0-0 6, Essegian 8-15 0-0 20, Ulis 0-2 0-1 0, Meah 1-1 0-0 2, Griffiths 1-3 0-0 3. Totals 28-54 9-11 72.
PENN ST. (14-13): Hicks 7-12 0-0 19, Konan Niederhauser 7-10 5-6 19, Baldwin 4-9 2-2 10, Dilione 5-9 2-2 12, Dunn 7-9 0-0 17, Kern 3-5 4-4 10, Nzeh 1-1 0-0 2, Carter 0-0 0-0 0, Stewart 0-1 0-0 0, Goodman 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 34-56 13-14 89.
Halftime--Penn St. 50-27. 3-Point Goals--Nebraska 7-21 (Essegian 4-9, Williams 2-5, Griffiths 1-2, Gary 0-1, Hoiberg 0-1, Worster 0-3), Penn St. 8-23 (Hicks 5-9, Dunn 3-5, Kern 0-1, Stewart 0-1, Baldwin 0-3, Dilione 0-4). Rebounds--Nebraska 19 (Griffiths 5), Penn St. 23 (Hicks, Kern 6). Assists--Nebraska 21 (Williams 5), Penn St. 21 (Baldwin 8). Total Fouls--Nebraska 13, Penn St. 13.