Tonight in Evanston, Illinois, the Northwestern Wildcats behind Nick Martinelli’s 34 points defeated Penn State 94-73 in a Thursday night showdown.
At the (17:21) mark the score was all locked at 6-6 with a total of four three pointers made between the two teams, and PSU’s Eli Rice had two of them for the Blue & White.
At the first media timeout (15:48) the score was 11-6 in favor of the Wildcats with nine of their eleven points coming from downtown.
Penn State then took their first lead of the game after a dunk by freshman seven-footer Justin Houser to make the score 15-14.
This lead was then short-lived after Martinelli hit a three on the Wildcats’ next possession to put them back in front 17-15 (12:08).
PSU’s Freddie Dilione V. started to heat up. He scored seven straight points to put Penn State back into the lead 22-21 with (10:01) left in the first half.
Northwestern, though, was answering any Penn State bucket and with (7:43) to play until halftime, it was the Wildcats 28 Nittany Lions 26.
Martinelli had 11 points for Northwestern and Tre Singleton had seven.
The pace was starting to pick up in the game and Northwestern was winning in transition and they stretched their lead to seven at 37-30 with (5:02) left in the first half.
The Nittany Lions stayed resilient and did not let the game get away from them. After scores by Dominic Stewart, Melih Tunca and an and-1 by Ivan Juric, the score was back to a one-point game with Northwestern leading 41-40 (1:37).
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.The score at the half was Wildcats 45 Nittany Lions 40. Big Ten leading scorer, Martinelli, was leading all scorers with 15 points and Juric had nine for Penn State.
To start the second half, Northwestern went on an 11-2 run and was leading 58-44 with (15:22) left in the game.
The Nittany Lions kept battling and was staying in striking distance. After a Kayden Mingo drive to the hoop, the deficit was cut to seven, 60-53 (12:26), and Northwestern was forced to call a timeout.
Penn State was on a 10-2 run and Mingo had 11 second half points (9:27).
At the second media timeout, (7:44), Northwestern was quickly back up by double-digits, 72-61, behind 12 second half points from Martinelli. The Big Ten leading scorer had 29 for the game up to this point.
The Wildcats had now established firm control of the game and with (5:00) to play it was the Wildcats 81, Nittany Lions 63.
Northwestern was well on their way to their tenth victory of the season (10-11) and their second conference win (2-8).
Penn State has now dropped to (9-12) with an (0-10) Big Ten Record.
Final Score: Northwestern 94 Penn State 73
