Jan. 17, 2015
By Matt Allibone, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - After going toe to toe with Purdue for nearly 40 minutes, the Penn State men's basketball was one stop away from securing it's first Big Ten win of the season on Saturday.
But the Lions fell just short. Despite D.J. Newbill hitting two clutch free throws to give the Lions a 67-64 lead with 12 seconds to play, Purdue's Kendall Stephens grabbed an offensive rebound and drained a backbreaking 3-pointer to send the game to overtime where the Boilermakers prevailed 84-77.
"We're in a one-possession game and this time we have the lead," head coach Patrick Chambers said. "We're close we just gotta get that rebound. You get the rebound it's over, but give them credit. Give [Kendall] Stephens credit, he got hot."
In overtime, the Lions took good shots but simply didn't get the bounces they needed as the Boilermakers scored on their first four possessions. Regardless, Newbill continued to battle, scoring all 10 of the Nittany Lions' points in the extra period.
While it wasn't the outcome the team wanted, it was still a banner day for Penn State's senior guard. The conference's leading scorer (21.7 PPG) went 13-23 from the field and hit 10-11 free throws on his way to a career high 37 points.
It was the second 30-point performance of Newbill's season and career, but more importantly, it proved how reliable the team's captain is. After hitting four of six shots in the first half for eight points, the shooting guard was unstoppable the rest of the way, scoring 29 after intermission and making numerous big plays.
"We took what they gave us and D.J. had the hot hand, he was playing really good basketball," Chambers said. "He did some great things today but he needs help."
With Penn State holding a 50-49 lead with 10:29 remaining, Newbill scored Penn State's next 11 points as the game went down to the wire. Then, with the Lions leading 65-64 with just under two minutes remaining, he ripped down a key rebound to end a Purdue possession before later draining the aforementioned free throws.
All in all, it was an afternoon to remember for the Philadelphia native, even if it didn't end the way he would've liked. Not only did the fans leave the Bryce Jordan center impressed with Newbill, his opponents walked away shaking their heads too.
Although they came away with the victory, the Boilermakers have to be glad they don't have to see Newbill again in the regular season. Head coach Matt Painter kept the guard double-teamed for most of the second half and still couldn't find a way to completely stop him.
"Well we were trying our best," Painter said. "I thought when he started driving and making layups and getting fouled it really affected us. He hit a lot of shots that were contested pull-up jump shots. Just tough shots and those are shots that he makes. You have to give him credit, he was great."
"He was just ultra-aggressive," Purdue guard Jon Octeus added. "He was doing a really good job off of ball-screens, just a good player. He's an NBA guard and he played well [today]."
Newbill may have been the only Nittany Lion to score double-digit points, but plenty of players made plays in what was a hard-fought, back-and-forth Big Ten contest.
Junior forward Brandon Taylor hit all three of his 3-point attempts in the first half that highlighted a 16-4 run to end the period and 6-foot-7 senior forward Ross Travis spent the afternoon banging down low with a pair of 7-footers (A.J. Hammons and Isaac Haas) and still came away with 12 rebounds.
All stats aside, Penn State faced a Purdue squad that hit 10 3-pointers and as Octeus put it, "had the basketball gods on [their] side." Still, the Lions answered the Boilermakers shot for shot for the first two periods.
For Chambers, that is not enough. The fourth-year coach came into the season believing his team could reach new heights and he still believes that now. The effort is there, now the only thing the Blue and White need to do differently is make one or two more plays at the end of games.
"We can't let that bother us, we can't get down," Chambers said. "We talk about being men and acting like men and that's what we've got to do. It's unfortunate but we can't live in the past."