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January 15, 2018
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Sophomores Tony Carr tied his career best with a game-high 33 points and Mike Watkins had his fifth-straight double-double with 20 points and 11 rebounds, but Penn State men's basketball fell in overtime to Minnesota 95-84. Twenty-five of Carr's points and 14 of Watkins' came after halftime.
The Golden Gophers took a 76-74 lead on a Jordan Murphy layup and then hit three-straight three-point baskets, one from Dupree McBrayer and two by Jamir Harris to give them a nine-point lead halfway through the overtime period.
It was the first back-to-back Big Ten overtime games for Penn State since the 2000-01 season when the Nittany Lions split those contests, defeating Illinois 98-95 on January 31 and falling to Indiana 85-78 on February 3.
"I want to give Minnesota credit -- they came in and did a great job in the first half, said Penn State men's basketball coach Patrick Chambers. "They competed, they got back in the game, took the lead for a second. They caught fire. Absolute fire -- hitting those three threes, give them credit. They made the big shots in overtime. We made the big plays in overtime against Nebraska. We'll learn from this; we'll get better, we'll get back to work."
The score was tied 13 times with six lead changes, with nine of the ties coming in the first half. Layups by McBrayer and Mason gave the Golden Gophers a 41-37 margin at the break.
Minnesota went on a 10-2 run beginning at the 16:40 mark of the second half to pull out to a 55-45 lead. Two-straight baskets by Carr broke stretch without a Penn State field goal and the Philadelphia, Pa., native would score 10 of Penn State's 12 points. Shep Garner hit a three and Watkins grabbed a steal and then dunked to tie the game at 65 all.
Carr tied the game at 69 with two free throws and then hit a three-pointer with three seconds left for the 74-74 score at the end of regulation. He had six points in the extra period.
Garner finished with 11 points on the night with four field goals and three three-pointers. The senior guard took sole possession of the No. 11 spot on Penn State's all-time scoring list with 1,380 points.
Minnesota crashed the boards and had a 45-34 advantage over the Nittany Lions as Murphy had a game-high and Penn State opponent high with 19. He had 22 points while Nate Mason had 25 and McBrayer 24.
The Golden Gophers shot 51.6 percent and matched its average for three-point field goals with seven in the first half. Minnesota was 6-8 from the field in the overtime period and had a field goal percentage of 53.0 percent for the game with 58.8 percent accuracy from beyond the three-point line.
Penn State did not have a single turnover in the first half and had a season low for the game with four. The Nittany Lions did not commit their first turnover until the 14:14 mark of the second half. The previous low total was three against Purdue in the 2015 Big Ten Tournament on March 13, 2015.
The Nittany Lions play at Northwestern on Saturday, January 20 and at Ohio State on Thursday, January 25. They return home for the annual THON game on Saturday, January 27. Visit gopsusports.com/tickets/m-baskbl-tickets.html for more information
Keep up to date with the latest information from Coach Patrick Chambers and the Nittany Lions on Twitter by following @Coach_Chambers and @PennStateMBB, liking the team's page on Facebook and following the team Instagram account at @PennStateMBB.