Lions get huge win over Illini
Big Ten second round
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CHICAGO -- Andrew Funk hit five of his six 3-pointers and scored 17 of his 20 points in the second half as Penn State defeated Illinois, 79-76, in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament on Thursday.
The victory will help boost the Nittany Lions' resume for their NCAA Tournament candidacy, but they're not taking anything for granted.
"We're going to play (Friday),'' PSU's Jalen Pickett said. "We're still going to play like it's our last game. We don't want this season to end.''
Camren Wynter scored 18 points and Seth Lundy had 17 points and 10 rebounds for the 10th-seeded Nittany Lions (20-12), who will take on second-seeded Northwestern in today's quarterfinals at 6:30 p.m. on the Big Ten Network.
Pickett, who came in averaging 18 points per game and scored a combined 61 points in two regular-season wins over the seventh-seeded Fighting Illini, had 12 points, eight rebounds and eight assists.
Terrence Shannon Jr. scored 19 points, Coleman Hawkins 17 and Dain Dainja 13 for Illinois (20-12).
Trailing by one with eight minutes remaining, Penn State went on a 14-3 run with six points each from Funk and Pickett to lead by 12 with just under two minutes left. The Lions went 7 of 10 at the line from there to hold off the Illini, who made a 3-pointer as time ran out.
"Illinois got us on the glass in the first half, but I think we cleaned that up in the second half and took care of the ball better,'' Penn State coach Micah Shrewsberry said. "Even when this team is down, they never bat an eye. That's the toughness of this group.''
Lundy and Wynter combined for 21 points as Penn State built a 27-17 lead with eight minutes left in the first half. But the Nittany Lions finished the half with four turnovers and shooting 2 of 11. Hawkins scored six points in a 13-4 half-ending run to narrow the gap to 31-30.
"There's no situation that we haven't been through,'' Shrewsberry said. "We've been through everything.''
Penn State has won six of its last seven games.
"We've won a couple on the road now,'' Funk said. "We've stuck together. We have a veteran group that's closed out games and we can keep our emotion at bay. But we can use it to our advantage when we know we can, and it has been a fine line that we've done a good job with.''
PENN ST. (20-12): Njie 0-0 0-0 0, Funk 6-9 2-2 20, Pickett 4-10 4-7 12, Wynter 7-9 4-7 18, Lundy 8-16 0-0 17, Dread 1-4 1-2 4, Clary 3-7 2-4 8, Henn 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 29-56 13-22 79.
ILLINOIS (20-12): Dainja 4-10 5-8 13, Hawkins 8-14 1-2 17, Melendez 1-2 2-2 4, Shannon 7-14 3-5 19, Mayer 3-11 1-2 7, Goode 3-5 0-0 8, Harris 1-2 0-0 3, Rodgers 1-4 0-0 2, Epps 1-2 0-0 3. Totals 29-64 12-19 76.
Halftime--Penn St. 31-30. 3-Point Goals--Penn St. 8-21 (Funk 6-9, Dread 1-4, Lundy 1-4, Clary 0-1, Henn 0-1, Pickett 0-1, Wynter 0-1), Illinois 6-21 (Goode 2-4, Shannon 2-7, Harris 1-1, Epps 1-2, Hawkins 0-2, Mayer 0-5). Rebounds--Penn St. 31 (Lundy 10), Illinois 31 (Mayer 8). Assists--Penn St. 13 (Pickett 8), Illinois 15 (Hawkins, Shannon 4). Total Fouls--Penn St. 20, Illinois 21. A--15,537 (20,917).