Trending
From Mirror, wire reports
UNIVERSITY PARK -- Brooks Barnhizer scored a career-high 23 points, Boo Buie had 17 points and eight assists and Northwestern beat Penn State, 76-72, on Wednesday night for its first win in the series since the 2019-20 season.
Northwestern (12-3, 3-1 Big Ten), which snapped a five-game losing streak in the series, won at Penn State for the first time since Dec. 27, 2016.
Barnhizer made a reverse layup to give Northwestern a 72-65 lead with 1:50 remaining, but Kanye Clary answered with a 3-pointer at the other end. The Wildcats were called for an offensive foul on their next possession and Nick Kern Jr. made an open layup, off a nice drive and pass from Clary, to cut their deficit to 72-70.
Ryan Langborg went 1 of 2 at the stripe to extend Northwestern's lead to 75-72. Kern missed the first free throw and intentionally missed the second, but he was whistled for a lane violation. Barnhizer sealed it with a free throw.
Ty Berry scored 16 points and made four 3-pointers for Northwestern.
Clary scored 25 points, going 10 of 10 from the free-throw line, for Penn State (8-8, 2-3). Kern added 14 points and Qudus Wahab had 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Nick Martinelli made a hook shot with 11:25 remaining in the second half to give Northwestern its first lead, 56-55, of the game. It came during a 19-2 run -- that included 15 straight points -- as Penn State went six-plus minutes without making a field goal.
"It was a tale of two halves," said PSU coach Mike Rhoades, whose team led, 40-32, at halftime. "We were attacking in the first half. There was a rhythm, a flow on offense. We stood around too much on offense in the second half."
Up next
Northwestern plays at No. 15 Wisconsin on Saturday.
Penn State plays at No. 1 Purdue on Saturday. The Boilermakers are coming off a loss at Nebraska from Tuesday night.
"I loved how our guys played hard, but we had wide-open 3-pointers and you gotta make them in basketball," said Rhoades, whose team went 3-of-17 from behind the arc. "We shot ourselves in the foot. (Northwestern) is a good team."
Game notes: Baldwin Jr. tied a Jordan Center record with eight steals in the game. That is the most since Monroe Brown had eight steals against Rhode Island in 1991.
NORTHWESTERN (12-3): Hunger 1-3 0-0 2, Barnhizer 8-11 6-7 23, Berry 5-8 2-2 16, Buie 6-9 3-5 17, Langborg 2-7 1-3 5, Martinelli 3-4 0-0 6, Nicholson 2-2 1-2 5, Preston 0-0 2-2 2. Totals 27-44 15-21 76.
PENN ST. (8-8): Hicks 1-8 0-0 2, Wahab 4-5 5-6 13, Baldwin 2-9 2-2 6, Clary 7-13 10-10 25, Johnson 3-5 0-2 6, Kern 6-9 2-4 14, Dunn 2-5 0-0 6, O'Boyle 0-0 0-0 0, Aire 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-54 19-24 72.
Halftime--Penn St. 40-32. 3-Point Goals--Northwestern 7-12 (Berry 4-5, Buie 2-3, Barnhizer 1-2, Langborg 0-2), Penn St. 3-17 (Dunn 2-3, Clary 1-2, Kern 0-1, Johnson 0-2, Baldwin 0-3, Hicks 0-6). Rebounds--Northwestern 23 (Berry, Buie 5), Penn St. 29 (Wahab 10). Assists_Northwestern 17 (Buie 8), Penn St. 11 (Baldwin 5). Total Fouls--Northwestern 16, Penn St. 15. A--7,822