EAST LANSING, Mich. — Down by 10 points at halftime at Big Ten foe Michigan State on Wednesday, Jan. 15, Penn State’s second-half comeback attempt fell just short, and the Trojans held on for a 90-85 victory.
Every time the Lions pulled within striking distance, MSU would come up with an answer until finally three free throws by Tre Holloman in the last 20 seconds of play gave Michigan State its 14th win of the season.
The Nittany Lions had actually drawn to within 3 points at the three-minute mark in the second half after a 3-pointer by Zach Hicks made the score 79-76.
But Michigan State struck back with a 3-point play by Frankie Fidler and then a putback by Fidler made it 84-76 with 2:04 on the clock.
Hicks hit another three, again off an assist by Ace Baldwin, and Baldwin made a foul shot that drew PSU again to within 4 points.
Yet the Spartans answered once more, this time with a 3-point play by Jaden Akins, followed by Holloman’s shots from the line, and Michigan State had the victory.
Hicks did make another three, his fourth of the game and fourth in the last minutes, but his efforts fell just short.
Hicks finished with 14 points, but Baldwin led the Lions with 20 points — he was followed by D’Marco Dunn with 18 and Yanic Konan Niederhauser with 13.
For Penn State, the loss was the second very difficult Big Ten setback after the 82-81 loss at home to Oregon on Tuesday, Jan. 12, and it left the Lions at 12-5 for the season and 2-4 in the Big Ten.
“Intense road game in the Big Ten,” Penn State head coach Mike Rhoades said. “Credit to Michigan State and their coaches. They have a great team. They made more plays down the stretch and found a way to win it.
“I loved our effort. I loved our approach. We made a run there in the second half to get back in it and be close. But we had some tough turnovers late that really hurt us, and we needed to get some rebounds. Some of those turnovers we couldn’t defend, and I thought that was a big difference in the game.
“We settled down on defense in the second half and got some stops, which was huge. We made that run and got back in it and we rebounded better. We didn’t rebound enough to win the game.”
Penn State, despite some recent setbacks, has been scoring a ton of points. The 85 against MSU marked the 12th time in its 16 games that the team scored over 80 points.
Baldwin also had nine assists against the Spartans, who have now won 10 straight games and are undefeated in conference play.
Next up for Penn State was a home game against Rutgers on Monday, Jan. 20, followed by a trip to Iowa on Friday, Jan. 24. Results of the Monday, Jan. 20, game were unavailable at the time of The Gazette’s publishing deadline.
