Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Penn State
Northwestern Drops 81-70 Decision To Penn State
2/17/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 17, 2010
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EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern fell behind early and was never able to recover, dropping an 81-70 decision to Penn State at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Michael Thompson and John Shurna led the Wildcats with 17 points each as Thompson became the 29th player in Wildcat history to surpass the 1,000 career points plateau.
Jeremy Nash added 14 and Luka Mirkovic finished with 13 while each hauled in a team-leading four rebounds.
The loss moves the Wildcats to 17-9 on the season and 6-8 in Big Ten play.
Action was tight throughout the first half with the Wildcats tying the score at 14 when Drew Crawford lost his defender on the wing and drove the baseline for an uncontested two-handed flush. After a layup by Mirkovic and a triple on the other end by Penn State's Talor Battle, Shurna caught fire for the 'Cats, scoring five straight NU points to give the home team a three-point edge.
The Wildcats got after it defensively in the first half, recording four blocks to nearly equal its impressive six-block performance against Minnesota on Sunday. Battle, who entered the game as one of the conference's leading scorers with 19.3 points per game, was limited to five points on 1-of-5 shooting in the opening half.
With seven minutes to play, Thompson drilled the second of back-to-back 3-pointers to give NU a 27-22 cushion. The Nittany Lions, however, managed to close the first half on a 14-5 run, punctuated by a Jeff Brooks 3-pointer off a kickout that gave Penn State a 36-32 lead entering the locker rooms.
Coming out of the break, both squads were locked in on the offensive end as they combined to score on the first seven possessions of the second half. Nash and Mirkovic each drained shots from beyond the arc to pull the 'Cats within one at 41-40. With 17:34 to play, Shurna got ahead of the pack on a fast break and slammed home a dunk to again cut NU's deficit to one point.
But the Wildcats went on to hit a dry spell, converting only one field goal over the next 6:30 as the Nittany Lions used an 11-3 run to break the game open before a trey by Alex Marcotullio ended the spurt.
Northwestern did not go down without a fight, clawing back to within two points after a steal and two free throws on the offensive end by Nash with 8:20 showing on the Welsh-Ryan Arena scoreboard. But Penn State continued to have its way on offense and eventually regained a nine-point advantage off a triple by Chris Babb with 4:12 remaining.
Penn State sealed the deal down the stretch with steady free throw shooting, finishing 20-of-23 from the charity stripe.
Despite the cold second half, Northwestern still finished the game shooting at a 48.3 percent clip while the visitors connected on 56 percent of their looks, bolstered by their 32 points in the paint.
Penn State received solid contributions from its supporting cast around Battle as Babb and David Jackson finished with 20 points each.
Northwestern must now go on the road in search of a win over No. 16 Wisconsin on Sunday. Tip time is slated for 1 p.m. with the Big Ten Network providing the live broadcast from Madison.
