Today, the first round of the 2015 Big Ten Tournament tipped off as the 13th seed Penn State Nittany Lions took on the 12th seed Nebraska Cornhuskers. Senior guard D.J. Newbill and his backcourt mate, freshman Shep Garner, put on a show as the Nittany Lions won 68-65 to advance to Thursday afternoon as they will take on the fifth seed Iowa Hawkeyes.
Coming into today’s game, Penn State played with a chip on their shoulder as Newbill was named to the All-Big Ten second team despite him leading the conference in scoring at 20.7 points per game.
In the first half, it was all Penn State as Garner knocked down shots from distance, and Newbill played aggressive to give them a small 34-29 lead at the half. But in the second half, the Cornhuskers tried to make comeback thanks to junior forward Terran Petteway. Petteway finished the game with 29 points as they were slowly cutting down the Nittany Lions lead from 16 as Penn State had went on a 14-1 run to open up the second half.
As the game began to wind down, the Cornhuskers started to ratchet up the pressure on defense, forcing Penn State to take bad shots. A key contributor in helping Nebraska’s comeback was junior forward Shavon Shields, who had 20 points and 10 rebounds, and played aggressive.
When it counted the most, the Nittany Lions put the ball in the hands of Newbill. With the clocking winding down and Penn State only up 66-65, Newbill went to work, driving through the lane throwing up a floater that rolled off the rim. As the ball rolled off the rim, a mass scramble ensued between both teams and some how, Penn State ended up with the ball with under five seconds left in the game.
The Nittany Lions then inbounded the ball and found sophomore guard Geno Thorpe, who went to the free throw line knocking down both shots to give them a 68-65 lead.
Nebraska then got the ball back, and at the buzzer, Shields missed the game tying three-pointer, sealing the victory for the Nittany Lions.
This afternoon’s game was the Newbill and Garner show as they combined for 45 of Penn State’s 68 points. The Nittany Lions also shot 40.9 percent as Garner knocked down five three pointers. Tomorrow afternoon’s game against Iowa should be a great one as the Hawkeyes just beat Penn State 81-77 in overtime on February 28.
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