Tonight, the (11-15) Penn State Nittany Lions hosted the (10-15) Rutgers Scarlet Knights inside the Bryce Jordan Center.
The contest started out with Rutgers looking like the more crisp team and the Scarlet Knights got out to a 9-0 lead, and Penn State had to call a timeout (16:40).
At the first media timeout (15:44) the score stayed at 9-0.
Penn State couldn’t get anything to drop, but Kayden Mingo got PSU in the scoring column with (13:28) left in the first half.
At the (11:59) mark of the first half, it was the Scarlet Knights 16 Nittany Lions 2.
Tariq Francis was leading all scorers with seven points.
The Blue & White put on a full-court press to try to get some rhythm and momentum and with (9:24) left in the first half, Penn State started to settle down and chip away at Rutgers’ lead.
At the (8:33) point it was Penn State down by eight points, 18-10. Mingo was leading Penn State with four points.
But the Scarlet Knights then went on a run of their own to stretch their lead back to 14 to make the score 26-12 (5:56).
Francis had nine points for the visitors.
Rutgers was shooting 54% from the field to Penn State’s 38% and with (1:19) left until halftime it was Rutgers over PSU, 37-18.
HALFTIME: RUTGERS 39 PENN STATE 20
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.To start the second half, both teams were trading buckets, but it was the Nittany Lions inching closer to the Scarlet Knights, 46-31 (16:15).
PSU’s, Melih Tunca, started to catch fire and had seven, second half points to trim the deficit to 11, 53-42 (12:49).
The Scarlet Knights, though, were holding steady and at the first media timeout (11:49) of the second half it was Rutgers 55 PSU 42.
Rutgers was maintaining control of the game and not letting Penn State get any closer than 11 points and with (9:37) left in the game it was the Scarlet Knights 64 Nittany Lions 45.
Harun Zrno and Lino Mark for Rutgers each had seven, second half points for the Scarlet Knights and with (5:58) to play it was the visiting team leading, 70-57.
Penn State’s, Josh Reed, had the Nittany Lions’ deficit back down to 11 points after two made free throws, but Rutgers kept the edge and were holding onto their lead 76-63 with (3:58) remaining in regulation.
The Nittany Lions kept battling and found themselves only down by eight points after a Reed three-pointer to make the score, 76-68 with (2:32) left in the game.
Penn State was putting on their 2-2-1 full-court press to try to create turnovers and more offensive opportunities.
With (1:43) to play it was Rutgers 81 PSU 70.
FINAL SCORE: RUTGERS 85 PSU 72
