Poor Second Half Showing Dooms Nittany Lions
After blowing a first-half lead, the Penn State Nittany Lions (8-14, 0-10 Big Ten) could not overcome a double-digit deficit in the second half and fell at home to the Purdue Boilermakers(12-11, 5-5 Big Ten), 58-49.
Penn State struggled to find the bottom of the net early on, shooting just 3-for-15 from the floor. However, trailing Purdue 8-4, the Nittany Lions would finally catch fire, going on a 17-4 spurt to take a 21-12 lead. The nine point advantage was the largest for Penn State during its conference season.
After scoring only four points in a 10-minute span in the middle of the first half, the Boilermakers responded with a 12-4 run in the final 4:30 of the half to pull within one point at the break. A.J. Hammons and Donnie Hale paced Purdue with six points apiece, while Sasa Borovnjak led the Nittany Lions with six of his own. D.J. Newbill had only two points at the half but dished out six first-half assists.
Purdue’s three leading scorers on the season---Hammons, Terone Johnson, and D.J. Byrd---combined to shoot just 2-for-14 from the field in the first half. Both teams struggled from beyond the arc, with Penn State shooting 2-for-10 and Purdue misfiring on all eight of its tries.
Down 25-24 coming out of the halftime locker room, the Boilermakers were able to build upon the momentum they mustered at the end of the first half to jump out to a 31-26 advantage in the early stages of the second. Penn State did fight back to knot the score at 31, but Purdue responded by seizing control of the game.
After the score was tied at 33, the Boilers connected on six of their next eight field goals to spark a 16-4 outburst. Ronnie Johnson contributed six points during the Purdue run, and his team suddenly held a commanding 49-37 lead with eight minutes to play.
With the Nittany Lions facing their largest deficit of the night, six straight points from D.J. Newbill brought them within six, and they would eventually trim the Purdue lead to 52-47.
With just under three minutes to play, Nick Colella had a wide-open look from beyond the arc that could’ve made it a two-point game, but the iron was unkind as the shot rattled in-and-out. On Purdue’s ensuing possession, Terone Johnson hit a floater that essentially put the game out of reach.
After seeing his team drop its tenth straight conference game, Penn State head coach Pat Chambers thinks that his players need to keep their head up after the tough loss.
“We got down, fought back, we had a couple of good looks, but they just didn’t fall. Sometimes the ball doesn’t bounce your way,” Chambers said after the game. “That’s why you have to keep a great attitude, because that’s the only thing we can control.”
Penn State shot an abysmal 19-for-62 from the floor (30 percent) in the game and converted only 2 of its 20 three-point attempts. Jermaine Marshall had an off-night, scoring a season-low seven points on 2-for-14 shooting. Brandon Taylor struggled as well, shooting 2-for-8 and netting only five points.
The two bright spots in the loss for the Nittany Lions were Newbill and Ross Travis. Travis, after scoring one total point in his last two games, put up eight points and eight rebounds on Tuesday night. Newbill contributed a game-high 17 points and seven assists, and Chambers is pleased with his point guard’s efforts.
“He’s doing his best impersonation of Tim [Frazier],” Chambers said. “He’s trying to lead his team, he’s trying to do everything he can, but we need more guys to help him.”
Over on the Purdue side, Matt Painter’s squad didn’t convert a single trifecta on 10 attempts, but made up for it by outscoring Penn State 36-20 in the paint and getting to the foul line 29 times. Ronnie Johnson led his team with 16 points on 7-for-12 shooting, although he only converted two of his eight attempts from the charity stripe.
Having snapped their two-game losing streak, the Boilermakers will look to get above the .500 mark in conference games when they host Michigan State on Saturday. The Nittany Lions will hope to get off the schneid in Big Ten play on Saturday night when they travel to Lincoln to take on Nebraska 9 p.m.
Bradford Conners is a sophomore majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email btc5082@psu.edu.
