PISCATAWAY, N.J. – The No. 20 Penn State men's basketball team (12-3, 2-2) fell in a difficult Big Ten road matchup at Rutgers (12-3, 3-1) 72-61 on Tuesday, Jan. 7. The Scarlet Knights relied on 14 second-half points from Ron Harper, Jr. and a strong team shooting performance in the final 20 minutes to take the conference win.
"I want to give credit to Rutgers," said Penn State men's basketball coach Patrick Chambers. "I thought they played really well. They have a very good basketball team. And they're one of the best defensive teams in the country. So we knew that and we knew they play 10 points better here (at home)…I thought we played pretty well in the first 20 minutes, but we did not sustain it in the second. They had another gear, for sure. And, you know, sometimes when shots don't fall, you know that you fall prey on the defensive end."
Rutgers' win was the first by the home team in the series since a Jan. 2018 win by Penn State at the Bryce Jordan Center. Neither team has won two consecutive games in the series the Nittany Lions won the last meeting of the 2015-16 season and first of 2016-17.
Harper Jr. finished with a game-best 22 points and sophomore guard Myreon Jones had a Penn State-best 21, his fourth career game of 20 or more points. Myreon Jones and senior forward Lamar Stevens combined for 25 of the Nittany Lions' second-half points.
The Scarlet Knights' success in the second half came in the form of 26 points in the paint and a 26-13 advantage on the boards. Rutgers scored 42 points in the paint and converted on 22 of 29 trips to the line on the night.
Stevens ran off eight-straight points for Penn State after the break and had all 12 of his points in the second half. After Stevens' scoring streak, sophomore guard Myreon Jones added eight more, giving Penn State a two-point lead, 51-49 with 8:05 to play.
Rutgers' Montez Mathis tossed in three field goals to get the Knights to 56-53. A 10-1 run off Harper's eight free throws and field goal put Rutgers up 66-54 with 2:13 left in the game.
Penn State guards Jamari Wheeler and Myles Dread were relegated to the sidelines after picking up their third fouls early in the second period. Early fouls on Wheeler put the Nittany Lions' defensive sparkplug on the bench just over three minutes into the game.
Rutgers struggled from the field most of the first half, going 1-10 with its first basket coming at the 12:26 mark. The Scarlet Knights closed the half making five of their last seven shots and started the second half on a 7-0 run.
Senior forward Mike Watkins was 7-7 from the field with two free throws for 16 points at the intermission as Penn State led 33-28. Watkins finished the night with 17 points and a share of the team rebounding lead with Stevens with six. Stevens' 12 points pushed him over the 1,900 career point mark, now at 1,901 and with his 100th career game with 10 or more points scored.
The Nittany Lions, owners of a 13-game home win streak, return to the friendly confines of the BJC on Saturday, Jan. 11 at 2:15 p.m. ET to face Wisconsin. The game will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network.
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