Penn State played possibly its best half of the Mike Rhoades era thus far and came back to beat Michigan at Philadelphia’s famous Palestra Sunday afternoon.
Coach Mike Rhoades’ team trailed Michigan 37-27 at the half, but outscored UM 52-36 in the last 20 minutes to move back to .500 in Big Ten play, 79-73
Ace Baldwin led Penn State with 25 points. Kanye Clary added 17, with 14 coming in the second half. D’Marco Dunn contributed 13 off the bench.
PSU (8-7, 2-2) started out slow, hitting one of its first 10 shots and trailing 9-2 at the first media timeout.
PSU didn’t score until roughly 3:50 into the game.
Michigan (6-9, 1-3) kept control through the U12 media timeout, and led by 10 after Tray Jackson dunked on Penn State big man Qudus Wahab.
UM led 26-16 at the next media timeout. Penn State’s best offensive player, Kanye Clary, came in averaging more than 18 points. He started 1-for-8 and had just three points threw the first three media timeouts.
Clary ended with 13 points, scoring 10 in the second half.
By the last media timeout of the first half, Michigan had its largest lead of the game at 35-22.
Michigan led 37-27 at the break.
Ace Baldwin led Penn State with 11 first-half points. He ended with 15. For Michigan, Terrance Williams led the scoring with 10.
Penn State kept fighting in the second half, trailing by just four 5:30 in. Then, with more than 11 minutes left, Dunn hit a 3 to put Penn State in the lead, 51-49. Another three by Dunn followed by a two out PSU ahead, 56-51, with less than 10 minutes left. Dunn ended with 11 points. Penn State still led by seven at the under-8 timeout.
By the five-minute mark, PSU led 65-54.
Michigan didn’t go away, scoring the next four points and trailing 65-58 with 4:14 left.
A basket by Baldwin with around 2:20 left made it 69-60. That was the dagger.
For Michigan, Terrance Williams II led the scoring with 22 points. Oliver Nkamhoua added 13 points and Nimari Burnett had an even 10.
Penn State’s back in Big Ten play Wednesday night against Northwestern. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:30 on the Big Ten Network.
