Penn State impressed a lot of people this past Wednesday with a double-digit win at Rutgers.
That was Penn State’s first road win in nine tries under first-year coach Mike Rhoades, and it came without the team’s leading scorer, Kanye Clary.
Saturday’s win was even more impressive.
PSU beat Indiana in Assembly Hall, 85-71.
It was the team’s first win at Indiana since February 2014.
Five Penn State players scored in double figures. Ace Baldwin led the way with 22 points and added eight assists, following a 10 assist performance in Piscataway. Zach Hicks had a season-high 19 points, shooting 4-for-8 from 3. Qudus Wabab had 14 points and seven rebounds, making seven of the eight shots he took. Jameel Brown came off the bench to match Wahab with 14 and shot 4-for-5 from 3. Finally, D’Marco Dunn, starting in place of Clary for the second straight game, added an even 10.
The opening stretch of the game was even, with Indiana leading 10-6 at the first media timeout.
Zach Hicks and Ace Baldwin hit 3s for Penn State’s first points.
By the u-12 timeout, Indiana had built a 20-12 lead.
IU center Kel’el Ware, a 7-footer, scored nine points in the first eight minutes.
The game held steady through the third media timeout, with Indiana leading 28-21. Both teams shot well early, with PSU making 11 of its first 18 shots and Indiana nine of its first 18. Penn State went into the last media timeout of the first half down 37-31 but was kept in the game largely due to shooting 6-for-12 from 3 through that stretch. Penn State was 5-for-23 in that department at Rutgers.
Indiana led 41-37 at the half. Each team shot above 50 percent from the field.
For Penn State, Ace Baldwin and Jameel Brown each had nine points to tie for the team lead.
But Penn a stage didn’t have an answer for Ware, who ended the first half with 17 points and seven rebounds.
Penn State took its first lead of the game with just under 17 minutes left on a three by Baldwin. A basket by Qudus Wahab made it 47-43 going into the first media timeout of the half. After that, Penn State really caught fire. A 3 by Jameel Brown made it 59-48 Penn State and gave PSU 10 for the day.
That’s where it stood going into the U12 timeout.
PSU will look to keep it going Thursday night against Iowa at the Bryce Jordan Center. Tip-off is scheduled for 7.
