STATE COLLEGE— The Penn State men’s basketball team had Iowa on the ropes, and first-year coach Micah Shrewsberry was seconds away from a signature victory amid an up-and-down debut season.
The Nittany Lions led the Hawkeyes by two, and Penn State was poised to grab a key Big Ten victory at the Bryce Jordan Center as Jordan Bohannon’s 3-pointer arced through the air. It was going to be short. But Hawkeyes star Keegan Murray swooped in and tipped the ball in at the buzzer to force overtime.
Despite the deflating ending to regulation, Penn State didn’t fold. The Nittany Lions held through two overtime periods, and the end result was a 90-86 victory over the Hawkeyes.
Forward John Harrar led four Nittany Lions in double figures with a career-high 19 points and 10 rebounds, while forward Seth Lundy added 17 points and 11 rebounds. Forward Greg Lee had 16 points off the bench, while Guard Myles Dread made a couple clutch 3-pointers and free throws to finish with 12 points. Guard Jalen Pickett was his solid self with 13 points and seven rebounds.
Forward Keegan Murray scored 21 points for Iowa, while forward Patrick McCaffery shipped in 16.
Penn State (9-9, 4-6 Big Ten) erased any bad memories from last week’s disastrous start at Indiana. The Nittany Lions got out to a hot start and led by as many as 10 points in the first 8 minutes. Iowa (14-7, 4-6), though, wasn’t going to go away easy, and the Hawkeyes clawed back down the stretch.
Iowa guard Connor McCaffery, who entered Monday averaging 1.2 points per game, scored all 12 of points in the first half, and he shot 4 of 6 on 3-pointers, which tied his career high for makes from deep. During one stretch, McCaffery scored nine straight points for Iowa, and that sequence turned a five-point Penn State lead into a four-point deficit.
McCaffery’s surge helped Iowa take a 34-32 lead into halftime, a mark that was made more impressive by the lack of production from Murray, who was held scoreless in the first half despite entering the night averaging 22.4 points per game.
Murray didn’t score his first basket of the game until more than 30 minutes into game action, and the length of Lundy and Lee helped stymie him around the basket. Murray finished the game with 21 points after halftime.
That gave Penn State an opening, but Iowa wouldn’t let the Nittany Lions get too far away. Forward Patrick McCaffery took over the long-range shooting for the Hawkeyes with a couple 3-pointers to keep the game close.
Penn State held multiple leads of four points over the course of the second half, but the Nittany Lions couldn’t bump it beyond that until Lee got an offensive rebound off a Harrar miss underneath and got it through the hoop to make it 63-57 with 1:51 left.
McCaffery answered to make it a 4-point game, but guard Sam Sessoms was able to make a difficult turnaround jumper over forward Filip Rebraca. Murray answered with a 3-pointer of his own to make it a 65-62 game with 53.8 seconds remaining.
The Hawkeyes forced a shot clock violation on the ensuing possession when Murray blocked a jumper by Pickett, and Iowa had another chance down just three with 23.8 seconds left. McCaffery split the Penn State defense for a basket to make it 65-64.
Sessoms was at the foul line with 8 seconds left and split a pair of free throws to make it a 66-64 game. Iowa ran the floor after the miss, and Bohannon launched his deep 3-pointer that Murray cleaned up.
Murray scored the first basket of overtime, which marked Iowa’s first lead since the 11-minute mark of the second half.
Iowa bumped its lead out to three points on free throws by Rebraca and guard Ahron Ulis, but Lundy answered with a 3-pointer. The two teams traded baskets and free throws before Ulis made a pair after Pickett couldn’t make a tough shot in the paint to make it a three-point game.
Penn State turned to its three-point specialist in Dread to make the biggest shot of the night for Nittany Lions, and the senior delivered by pump faking to move Murray out of his way and squaring up for the 3-pointer to tie the game at 78-78. Iowa couldn’t answer, and the game went to another extra period.
Pickett went to work in the second overtime period with five straight points, and Sessoms made an acrobatic scoop shot in the lane to keep Penn State’s lead at three. With 12.2 seconds left, Dread made two free throws to make it a two-possession game. Penn State held on.
Player of the game: Harrar turned in a hard-nosed outing for Penn State down low and helped power the Nittany Lions offense. I have finished the game with a career-high 19 points to go with 10 rebounds. It was a solid bounce back performance for Harrar after he went scoreless when these two teams met nine days ago.
amazing performance: McCaffery’s hot shooting in the first half seemed to come out of nowhere. The 6-foot-5 guard hadn’t scored in double figures since Feb. 13, 2021, and he entered Monday shooting 5-of-28 from the field. He was sensational in the first half, and he finished the game with 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting, including 4-of-7 shooting on 3-pointers, and six rebounds. He left in the second half with an apparent injury to his right shoulder.
remarkable stat: Penn State shot just 6 of 27 (22.2%) from deep, and those six makes came from just three players (Lundy, Dread, Pickett).
Lineup notes: Guard Dallion Johnson was a new addition to the starting lineup for Shrewsberry and Penn State on Monday night. It was the sophomore’s first career start, and he entered the night averaging 2.2 points per game while shooting 40.9% on 3-pointers in 15 games. He joined Pickett and Dread in the backcourt, while Lundy and Harrar started in the frontcourt against the Hawkeyes.
It’s the ninth different lineup selection for Penn State in 2021-22.
Lee and forward Jalanni White were the first men off the bench for the Nittany Lions, but White’s shift lasted only 34 seconds before forward Caleb Dorsey entered the game for him. Sessoms was the first guard off the bench for Penn State.
Johnson exited with an apparent injury later in the first half, and his absence opened up time for guard Jaheam Cornwall off the bench. Johnson never returned to action. He had four points in 13 minutes.
what’s next: Penn State’s return home is short-lived, as the Nittany Lions return to the road to face No. 11 Wisconsin in Madison on Saturday evening. The Badgers (17-3, 8-2) face No. 18 Illinois in Champaign on Thursday night. It’s the only meeting between Penn State and Wisconsin this season.
Daniel Gallen covers Penn State for PennLive. He can be reached at [email protected]. You can follow him on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Follow PennLive’s Penn State coverage on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Youtube.
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George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism