Lions suffer stinging loss to Huskers
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LINCOLN, Neb. -- Keisei Tominaga scored a career-high 30 points, Jamarques Lawrence scored five key points down the stretch, and Nebraska defeated Penn State, 72-63, on Sunday, giving Cornhuskers coach Fred Hoiberg his 150th career victory.
The win moves Nebraska (11-13, 4-9 Big Ten) past last season's win total and matches last season's number of conference victories. The Cornhuskers had lost four in a row while chasing that elusive win.
The loss for Penn State was a blow to its NCAA Tournament hopes. Lions have won just three of their last nine games.
"We didn't do a good job on (Tominaga),'' Penn State coach Micah Shrewsberry said. "He got into a rhythm early, he got some layups, and everything starts to fall from there.''
Five players scored for Nebraska in an 11-0 run that gave the Cornhuskers a 26-13 lead near the 10-minute mark of the first half. Tominaga scored 15 points in the half and the Cornhuskers led 37-28 at the break.
Nebraska held the lead throughout the second half. A 3-pointer by Seth Lundy got the Nittany Lions within 57-53 with 6:20 remaining and a free throw by Kebba Njie got Penn State within three. But Tominaga made a layup and a 3-pointer to push Nebraska's lead back to eight inside the five-minute mark.
The Cornhuskers scored four straight points to go up 66-58 with 1:26 remaining, then Lawrence hit a big 3-pointer on their next possession for a 69-60 lead with 45 seconds left. He later added two free throws to cap the scoring.
Tominaga made 12 of 18 shots overall and was 5-for-10 on 3-pointers. Lawrence finished with 11 points and nine rebounds.
"There's probably some things we could have done better,'' Shrewsberry said. "I thought we got some good shots. We have to do a better job at attacking the rim and getting layups -- trying to score other ways where it's not just kickout 3s. But (the Cornhuskers) force you to do that.''
Lundy led Penn State (14-9, 5-7) with 24 points, all on a career-best eight 3-pointers in 13 attempts. Jalen Pickett had 15 points, seven rebounds and seven assists, and Andrew Funk scored 14 points with 4-of-8 3-point shooting.
Penn State hosts Wisconsin on Wednesday and Nebraska plays at Michigan, also on Wednesday.
PENN ST. (14-9): Dorsey 0-1 0-0 0, Henn 1-4 0-0 2, Funk 5-9 0-0 14, Pickett 7-13 0-0 15, Lundy 8-15 0-0 24, Wynter 0-3 0-0 0, Njie 1-2 1-4 3, Dread 0-6 0-0 0, Clary 0-2 0-0 0, Johnson 1-3 0-0 3, Mahaffey 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 24-60 1-4 63.
NEBRASKA (11-13): Walker 3-8 3-7 9, Dawson 2-3 0-2 4, Griesel 3-7 1-1 7, Lawrence 3-6 2-2 11, Tominaga 12-18 1-2 30, Hoiberg 2-3 3-4 7, Wilcher 1-4 0-0 2, Breidenbach 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 27-51 10-18 72.
Halftime--Nebraska 37-28. 3-Point Goals--Penn St. 14-38 (Lundy 8-13, Funk 4-8, Johnson 1-3, Pickett 1-3, Dorsey 0-1, Henn 0-1, Wynter 0-3, Dread 0-6), Nebraska 8-20 (Tominaga 5-10, Lawrence 3-4, Breidenbach 0-1, Dawson 0-1, Griesel 0-2, Wilcher 0-2). Rebounds--Penn St. 32 (Njie 9), Nebraska 32 (Lawrence 9). Assists--Penn St. 16 (Pickett 7), Nebraska 17 (Walker 7). Total Fouls--Penn St. 15, Nebraska 6. A--14,385 (15,147).