When forward Terrence Shannon’s 3-point play gave No. 12 Illinois a 10-point lead over Penn State with just 2:30 to play in Rec Hall on Wednesday, Feb. 21, it looked like the Lions would take another tough, late loss to a highly ranked Big Ten program.
After all, they were coming off a three-game losing streak, and, as well as they have played, things were not going their way through crunch time. This would be another close miss. However, Penn State did not back down.
Forward Zach Hicks came back with a jumper in the paint and a long 3-pointer on a fast break, which suddenly cut the Illini lead to just 5 points.
Illinois made two foul shots and upped it again to 7 points, but then a 3-pointer by Jameel Brown and a layup by Puff Johnson made it a 2-point, 89-87 game with 29 seconds to play.
Penn State’s defense stopped Illinois and got Hicks one more chance to win the game with a 3-pointer just before the buzzer.
Hicks’ shot missed, but he was knocked down and fouled. He was awarded three shots with three seconds on the clock and made all three.
Illinois managed another shot, but it bounced out and Penn State had a rousing, 90-89 win that caused the excited Lion fans to flood onto the floor.
It was a stunning win over a ranked conference opponent that improved the Lions’ overall record to 13-14 and 7-9 in the Big Ten.
All five of Penn State’s starters scored in double figures, led by Nick Kern with 22 points. He was followed by Hicks with 13, Qudus Wahab with 13, Brown with 11 and Ace Baldwin with 10. Baldwin also had 12 assists and played all 40 minutes.
This was Penn State’s second win this season over a top-15 team, and the team is now 3-1 in games it has returned to Rec Hall.
As inspiring as the Illinois victory was, the Lions had little time to rest.
Three days later, Indiana came into the Bryce Jordan Center for the annual Coaches vs Cancer Game and Alumni Day.
Penn State had beaten the Hoosiers in Indiana earlier in the season and was expecting a team to show up bent on evening the score.
Indiana certainly was that, but it didn’t matter.
Penn State gutted out a 7-point lead at halftime and held it the entire second half in an impressive 83-74 win over the Hoosiers.
It was the team’s fourth win in a row over Indiana and it evened the team’s overall record to 14-14 and 8-9 in the conference.
Penn State never actually ran away with things in the second half as Indiana closed to as little as 3 points at the 10-minute mark.
But a 3-point play by Kern gave the Lions a 10-point lead with just over seven minutes to play, and PSU did not look back from there.
D’Marco Dunn and Hicks sewed up the game by going a combined 5-for-5 from the line in the final 45 seconds.
Penn State again showed good balance by putting five players in double figures for the second game in a row. Baldwin had a terrific game with 23 points, 9 assists and 4 rebounds in 40 minutes of playing time.
Hicks added 17, Dunn had 13 and Kern and Wahab each scored 11.
The Lions did have 11 turnovers, but they shot 45% from the field and 87% from the line and scored 28 points in the paint.
PSU will have its final three games of the regular season before the Big Ten Tournament begins on Wednesday, March 13.
PSU will play Minnesota away on Saturday, March 2, and will have its final Senior Night game against Maryland on Sunday, March 10, at the Bryce Jordan Center.
Minnesota is presently 17-10 overall and 8-8 in the Big Ten, and Maryland is 15-13 overall and 7-10 in the conference.
