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Penn State Basketball: Late Call Dooms Nittany Lions to 87-85 Overtime Loss

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According to the map, the distance between the end zone Indiana quarterback Michael Penix Jr. dove into and the basket Penn State guard Myles Dread stood under is roughly two-tenths of a mile.

The first sent Penn State football home 0-1 on the year following a controversial overtime loss. The second sent Penn State men’s basketball to a similar fate on Wednesday night, Dread all but certain he had secured the game-winning steal only to be whistled for a foul with seconds to go in regulation.

Indiana would make one of two free throws, tying the game in the final seconds. Not long thereafter the Nittany Lions saw their late one-point lead — their first of the game — turn into an 87-85 loss.

‘The last possession down on the other end where I thought Myles got his hand and stole it,’ Penn State coach Jim Ferry said after the game. ‘[Indiana] got to the free throw line on that.’

Long before the whistle ever blew, Penn State was lucky to find itself in a position to win the game in the first place. The Nittany Lions started out cold from the field before both teams warmed late in the first half with the Hoosiers leading 38-33 at the break.

The second half was more of the same as teams fired back and forth before Indiana shot out to a 12-point lead with 9:58 to go. Despite Penn State’s efficient offensive attack [shooting over 50% for most of the game] the Nittany Lions’ woes in the paint continued and the Hoosiers rattled home 50 points near the basket, Penn State now giving up over 100 points in the paint over the past two games.

To their credit the Nittany Lions didn’t falter, grinding away at the Indiana lead bit by bit. The Hoosiers headed into the contest also without a win in Big Ten play, and were not always the better team, or one without its own weaknesses.

It was Sam Sessoms that got the Nittany Lions over the hump, scoring seven points in the final 2:49 to give Penn State an eventual 80-79 lead with just 28 seconds to go. In total, Sessoms would take seven of Penn State’s final 15 shots over the final six minutes of play and all of overtime. While the physical and efficient Philadelphia product has been Penn State’s best option attacking the basket, fellow shooter Myreon Jones ended the night not taking a single shot in the final eight minutes of play after scoring 20 points on just nine attempts.

Sessoms got the call on Penn State’s final possession but was met with stout defense, his shot blocked into Brockington’s hands, who managed a half hearted shot with blinks left on the clock.

‘Sam gets layups,’ Ferry said. ‘Sam can get in there […] we don’t get fouled very much so we need someone to get inside of the paint and get fouled for us and break the defense down and the shot he hit, obviously would have been the game winner.’

When the dust settled Penn State fell to 3-4 on the year and 0-3 in Big Ten play. Izaiah Brockington finished the night with 15 points while Seth Lundy added 10 of his own to complement Jones’ atop the board. John Harrar was a machine on the glass puling down 10 rebounds while putting up nine points. Sessoms rounded out his active night with 17 of his own.

The Nittany Lions are set to host No. 6 Wisconsin at noon on Sunday in the Bryce Jordan Center. A good eight hours from Bloomington.