No. 13 Penn State Tops Northwestern For Eighth-Straight Victory, 20th Win of Season

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State men's basketball team (20-5, 10-4) topped Northwestern (6-18,1-13) 77-61 for its eighth-straight win and 20th of the season on Saturday, Feb. 15. Four Nittany Lions finished in double figures in the 13th home win of the 2019-20 season with senior forward Lamar Stevens leading the charge with 23. Penn State's No. 2 all-time scorer, Stevens now has 2,103 career points.

"For myself, staff and the leaders, that was a scary game because of the way they (Northwestern) shoots the basketball," said Penn State men's basketball coach Patrick Chambers. "We watched them at Rutgers, we watched the Purdue game and they played some flawless basketball, shooting threes and really guarding and making life difficult. Chris [Collins] does a great job, and you knew in the second half, because of his leadership, you knew they would make a run. You knew they would come back and cut it to single digits. You've got to fight that. As we develop and mature and gain these valuable experiences, you've got to be able to punch back when they go on those runs. I felt like we did that."

The Nittany Lions connected on 11 3-point field goals vs. the Wildcats, their second-straight game with double-figures in treys, and crashed the boards with a +12 margin at 42-30. Senior forward Mike Watkins had a game-high nine rebounds.

Sophomore Myles Dread had four 3-pointers in his second-consecutive game and finished with a season-best 16 points. Junior guard Jamari Wheeler also turned in a season-best with 11 points, making a career-best three 3-pointers.

"I think Myles is playing with incredible confidence right now, and the team overall is playing with incredible confidence," Chambers said. "I thought we had two good practices, and we came out and did what we had to do."

Trailing by 18 points with 12:13 to play, Northwestern cut the Nittany Lions' lead to seven with 5:16 remaining. A clutch triple by Dread on the Nittany Lions' next possession pushed the lead back to 10 with 4:43 to play. Dread's three-pointer sparked a 13-0 run for Penn State as the Nittany Lions secured their 10th Big Ten Conference win of the season, most in the Chambers era.

The Wildcats held the early advantage over the Nittany Lions, taking a 7-3 lead in the first 2:30 of Saturday's contest. Penn State's long-range shooting erased the Wildcats early lead as Seth Lundy and Lamar Stevens knocked down consecutive treys to tie the game at 9-9.

Chambers called a timeout at the 3:43 mark to refocus his team.

Watkins tied the game at 11 with two free throws and gave the Nittany Lions their first lead at 13-11, which they held for the rest of the game. Up by six, 25-19, with 8:14 left in the half, Penn State made five-straight field goals, all two-pointers, in a 10-0 run over 2:45.

The Nittany Lions' used seven 3-pointers in the first half, five coming in the first nine minutes, to keep a slight edge over Northwestern. Both Dread and Wheeler each made a pair of triples as the Nittany Lions pulled ahead 42-28 at the first intermission.

Penn State's offensive rebounding prowess led to nine second-chance points and it did not allow a second-chance point for the Wildcats in the first half.

Penn State concludes its homestand vs. Illinois with a 6:30 p.m. contest on Tuesday, Feb. 18. The Nittany Lions and Illini are participating in FS1's all-access broadcast.

For more information about single-game tickets for Penn State's remaining four home games, visit the online ticket information page or call 1-800-NITTANY weekdays from 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

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