Lundy hits milestone in big win
Trending
From Mirror, wire reports
UNIVERSITY PARK - Senior Seth Lundy led the way as the Penn State men's basketball team drilled a school record-tying 18 3-pointers and earned its largest-ever win over Indiana with an 85-66 victory over the Hoosiers Wednesday night inside the Bryce Jordan Center.
The Nittany Lions never looked back after taking the lead at the 9:15 mark of the first half. Penn State made 18 triples on a blistering 58.1 percent clip from downtown, while the Nittany Lion defense limited Indiana to just a 4-for-14 mark from deep.
A night to remember
Lundy scored his 1,000th career point with a dunk at the 6:24 mark of the second half to highlight his 25-point performance that also included a career-best seven 3-pointers. Senior Andrew Funk also drilled seven triples in Penn State's 3-point barrage and finished with 23 points. Freshman Evan Mahaffey was a massive spark off the bench once again, tallying a career-best 12 points on a perfect 4-for-4 effort from the field. Senior Jalen Pickett stuffed the stat sheet once again, finishing with 12 points, five rebounds and eight assists.
How it happened
Lundy scored eight of Penn State's first 10 points as the Hoosiers held an early 12-10 lead at the 12:08 mark of the first half.
Indiana owned a 15-13 advantage before back-to-back 3-pointers from Lundy sparked a 13-3 Nittany Lion run over the next 5:04. The Penn State defense forced four Indiana turnovers and the Hoosiers were just 1-for-5 from the field during the stretch as the Nittany Lions surged ahead 26-18 with 4:38 left on the first-half clock.
Penn State stayed hot in the final minutes of the opening term, hitting three more 3-pointers and adding a driving layup from Camren Wynter as the Nittany Lions stretched their lead to 37-26 heading into the locker room.
A Wynter driving layup opened the second half, but Indiana found its footing to answer with a 10-2 run that trimmed Penn State's lead down to five at 41-36 just over four minutes into the second term.
Funk caught fire from there, nailing three triples in a span of 2:26, while the Nittany Lions also added a Wynter layup to stretch their edge back to double digits at 52-42 with 13:14 left to play.
Miller Kopp drilled a 3-pointer at the 11:54 mark for the Hoosiers to make it an eight-point game, but it would be as close as Indiana would get the rest of the way. A Kanye Clary 3-pointer followed before Penn State went 11-for-16 from the field and 6-for-7 from deep in the final 11:31 of the game to run away with the dominant 85-66 victory.
GAME NOTES
Penn State's 19-point victory marks its largest-ever win over Indiana and just the Nittany Lions' third double-digit win over the Hoosiers. Penn State's previous largest margin of victory over Indiana was 15 in a 64-49 home win on Jan. 29, 2020.
The Nittany Lions 18 3-pointers ties a school record that was set earlier this season against Winthrop (Nov. 7).
The Nittany Lions shot 58.1 percent (18-31) from 3-point range, marking the fourth time this season Penn State has shot over 50 percent from downtown.
The Nittany Lion defense held the Hoosiers 14.9 points below their season scoring average of 80.9 points per game.
Indiana entered the game shooting 38.2 percent from 3-point range, but Penn State held the Hoosiers to a 28.6 percent (4-14) clip from beyond the arc.
Penn State dished 19 assists, its most in a Big Ten game this season.
Lundy became the 39th member of Penn State's 1,000 career points club with his dunk at the 6:24 mark of the second half.
Penn State now has five 1,000-point scorers on its roster: Myles Dread, Funk, Lundy, Pickett and Wynter. Penn State joins San Diego and UAB as the only three schools in the country with five 1,000-point scorers on their roster.
Lundy finished with a season-best 25 points, marking his 15th double-digit effort of the year and third 20-point game of the season.
Funk tallied a season-high 23 points and drilled a career high-tying seven 3-pointers.
Mahaffey finished with a career-best 12 points behind a 4-for-4 effort from the floor.
Pickett led Penn State with eight assists. He also added xx points. Wynter added a season-high six assists.
Up next
Nittany Lions return to action Tuesday when Penn State travels to No. 18 18 Wisconsin for an 8:30 p.m. game on the Big Ten Network.
INDIANA (10-6): Geronimo 3-5 0-0 6, Jackson-Davis 4-10 6-10 14, Kopp 2-3 0-0 5, Galloway 4-8 1-2 10, Hood-Schifino 5-15 0-2 11, Bates 4-9 2-2 11, Reneau 3-5 1-2 7, Gunn 1-3 0-0 2, Leal 0-0 0-0 0, Banks 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-59 10-18 66.
PENN STATE (12-5): Njie 1-2 0-0 2, Funk 8-13 0-0 23, Pickett 5-10 0-0 12, Wynter 4-9 0-0 8, Lundy 9-17 0-0 25, Dread 0-1 0-0 0, Mahaffey 4-4 3-4 12, Clary 1-2 0-0 3, D.Johnson 0-0 0-0 0, Henn 0-1 0-0 0, Brown 0-0 0-0 0, Conlan 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 32-59 3-4 85.
Halftime--Penn St. 37-26. 3-Point Goals--Indiana 4-14 (Kopp 1-1, Bates 1-3, Galloway 1-3, Hood-Schifino 1-4, Geronimo 0-1, Gunn 0-2), Penn St. 18-31 (Funk 7-12, Lundy 7-12, Pickett 2-2, Clary 1-1, Mahaffey 1-1, Dread 0-1, Henn 0-1, Wynter 0-1). Rebounds--Indiana 35 (Jackson-Davis 11), Penn St. 27 (Lundy 6). Assists--Indiana 15 (Jackson-Davis, Hood-Schifino 4), Penn St. 19 (Pickett 8). Total Fouls--Indiana 10, Penn St. 15.