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The Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS -- Jalen Pickett hit three 3-pointers on his way to 22 points and Penn State defeated Minnesota 60-51 in the first round of the Big Ten Conference tournament on Wednesday night.
Jamison Battle scored eight points to help 14th-seeded Minnesota take a 28-24 lead at halftime.
Penn State (13-16), the 11th seed, took its first lead of the second half at 33-32 on a 3-pointer by Seth Lundy with 16:32 remaining. Battle sank two free throws to get the Golden Gophers within 51-47 with 6:39 left, but Pickett answered with a 3-pointer.
Eric Curry had a rebound basket to cut Minnesota's deficit to five with 4:13 to go, but John Harrar had a layup, Pickett hit a jumper and Sam Sessoms made two foul shots in a 6-0 run to wrap up the win for the Nittany Lions.
Sessoms finished with 14 points for PSU, while Lundy scored 11. Harrar had 12 rebounds to go with six points.
Battle topped the Golden Gophers (13-17) with 19 points. Curry, Sean Sutherlin and Payton Willis all scored 10.
Penn State led the Big Ten in scoring defense, yielding 66.2 points per game, and beat Minnesota for the first time in five tries in the conference tourney. The Nittany Lions advance to play No. 6 seed Ohio State in the quarterfinals on tonight.
In the tourney's opener, Boo Buie scored 14 of his 16 points in the second half and drew a critical charge with 10.5 seconds left as Northwestern erased a 15-point second-half deficit to upend Nebraska 71-69.
After forcing the Nebraska turnover, Buie was fouled with 7.4 seconds remaining and made the first of two free throws. The Cornhuskers used their last timeout and when Buie missed the second free throw Trey McGowens pushed the ball up court only to have his contested floater in the lane deflected by Robbie Beran.
Northwestern, which had lost its opening game in the last five tournaments, faces fifth-seeded Iowa tonight.
Pete Nance had 14 points, eight rebounds and eight assists for 12th-seeded Northwestern (15-15), which beat Nebraska twice during the regular season.
Alonzo Verge Jr., scored 21 points with nine assists, seven rebounds and four steals for 13th-seeded Nebraska (10-22), but he was the player that crashed into Buie. Verge was trying to get to the basket after Chase Audige made 1 of 2 free throws with 18.1 seconds left put Northwestern on top 70-69.
Derrick Walker added 16 points for the Cornhuskers, who had won three straight, including an upset of No. 10 Wisconsin in the regular-season finale.
MINNESOTA (13-17): Battle 7-16 2-2 19, Curry 4-10 2-2 10, Loewe 1-8 0-0 2, Sutherlin 5-7 0-0 10, Willis 3-13 2-4 10, Stephens 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-54 6-8 51.
PENN ST. (13-16): Harrar 2-4 2-2 6, Lundy 3-8 3-3 11, Dread 1-3 0-1 3, Johnson 0-5 0-0 0, Pickett 9-14 1-1 22, Sessoms 5-12 2-3 14, Lee 2-4 0-0 4, Christos 0-0 0-0 0, Dorsey 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-50 8-10 60.
Halftime--Minnesota 28-24. 3-Point Goals--Minnesota 5-19 (Battle 3-8, Willis 2-6, Curry 0-1, Loewe 0-4), Penn St. 8-22 (Pickett 3-4, Sessoms 2-4, Lundy 2-5, Dread 1-3, Lee 0-2, Johnson 0-4). Rebounds--Minnesota 23 (Battle, Sutherlin 6), Penn St. 34 (Harrar 12). Assists--Minnesota 13 (Curry 6), Penn St. 9 (Pickett 4). Total Fouls--Minnesota 12, Penn St. 11.