UNIVERSITY PARK– Penn State could have folded in the second half, but didn’t, and instead found a way to beat Iowa at the Bryce Jordan Center Thursday night 89-79.
Ace Baldwin ended the game with 22 points to lead Penn State after having only four in the first half.
The game got off to a fast start. Penn State’s (12-11, 6-6 Big Ten) D’Marco Dunn scored the first five points, but Iowa went on a 10-2 run to go ahead 10-7. A 3 by PSU’s Zach Hicks tied it at 10, which is where it stayed going into the first media timeout.
Iowa ( then went on a 7-0 run to make it 17-10 which led to Penn State coach Mike Rhoades calling timeout.
Penn State cut it to 19-18 and went into the U12 timeout down 21-18. PSU proceeded to score the next nine points and led 27-21 at the next media timeout. A pair of Nick Kern free throws immediately coming out of the break made it 29-21 and an 11-0 run for Penn State. Not a lot happened in the next few minutes, and Penn State let 31-23 at the first half’s last media.
Coming out of the break, a steal and bucket by Clary put Penn State up by double digits for the first time all night.
Another Clary bucket– this one a 3– made it 83-32 with just over two minutes left.
Penn State went into halftime up 42-34.
For the first several minutes of the second half, Iowa hung tough and went into the first media timeout down 46-42. Iowa stayed hot. With 13:08 left, a three-point play by Owen Freeman made it a 15-4 Iowa run and gave it the lead, 49-48. Penn State answered on a 3 by Dunn to retake the lead. With 10:20 left, a three by Iowa’s Pryce Sanafort made it 58-54, and a 3-point play by Patrick McCaffrey made it 61-54 and 1 27-12 run to start the second half.
But Penn State kept fighting. 3s by Zach Hicks and Ace Baldwin put Penn State back ahead, 64-63, with 7:01 left.
Dunn ended with a team-high 12 points for Penn State. Qudus Wahab added 14 to go with seven rebounds, and Zach Hicks scored 14, with nine coming via the 3 ball.
For Iowa, Ben Krikke led the way with a game-high 22 points and Tony Perkins added 11 to match his jersey number.
Penn State looks to stay hot Sunday on the road against Northwestern. Tipoff is scheduled for 1.
