Northwestern Battles But Falls To Penn State in Big Ten Tournament

3/1/2018 7:18:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Highlights Box Score (PDF)Postgame Press Conference

Pardon paces Wildcats with 14 points

NEW YORK – Northwestern fought Penn State down to the wire Thursday night in the Big Ten Tournament at Madison Square Garden, but a trio of late 3-pointers from the Nittany Lions helped eliminate the Wildcats from the tourney, 65-57.

Dererk Pardon led Northwestern with 14 points and eight rebounds while Scottie Lindsey had 12 points and eight boards. Starting in the game alongside his fellow center Pardon, Barret Benson had nine rebounds and seven points.

Northwestern out-shot Penn State in the contest. The Wildcats were 40.4 percent (21-of-52) from the field, while PSU shot 36.1 percent on 22-of-61 shooting. The difference came behind the arc as Penn State knocked down 13 3-pointers to NU's five.

Tony Carr led the way for PSU with 25 points and he hit two 3-pointers and set up another in the final minutes as Penn State made a late rush to hold off Northwestern.

Penn State jumped out to a 16-10 lead, but the Wildcats clamped down on the defensive end and made a run. A 17-4 surge over a nearly nine-minute span gave NU a 27-20 advantage with four minutes remaining in the opening half. However, the Nittany Lions closed the period by scoring 10 of the final 13 points as the teams took a 30-30 tie into the intermission.

A quick 9-2 run to open the second half gave Penn State a 39-32 edge, but Northwestern battled back and regained the lead, 46-45, on a jumper by Scottie Lindsey with 11:08 remaining.

With the score tied, Bryant McIntosh gave Northwestern its last lead at 54-52 with 4:33 to go with an off-balance jumper from the left baseline, but PSU went on a 13-2 run, sparked by three triples, to take control of the contest.

Northwestern concludes its season with a 15-17 record.

Northwestern Big Ten Tournament Notes vs. Penn State – March 1, 2018
• This was the fourth meeting between Northwestern and Penn State in the Big Ten tournament but the first since 2006. The series is now even, 2-2.
• Senior guard Bryant McIntosh appeared in the 129^th game of his career, tying him with Michael Thompson for fifth place in school history.
• With 6 assists in the game, McIntosh moved into sole possession of fifth place in Big Ten history in the category. He finishes his career with a school-record 700 assists.
• McIntosh made three field goals, raising his career total 621 and moving him into a tie with Evan Eschmeyer for fifth place in school history in the category.
• McIntosh also moved past John Shurna for third place in school history in field goal attempts, finishing his career with 1,519.
• Sophomore center Barret Benson made his first start of the season and the ninth of his career. He tallied a career-high 9 points with 9 rebounds, one game after posting 8 points and a career-high 10 rebounds at Iowa on Sunday.
• Benson recorded 3 blocked shots in the game, tying a Northwestern record for a Big Ten tournament game achieved on four previous occasions.
• Junior center Dererk Pardon finished his season with a .623 field goal percentage which is a school single-season record, surpassing the previous mark of .613 set by Evan Eschmeyer in 1996-97.
• Penn State's .361 field goal percentage (22-61) is the fourth-lowest ever by an NU opponent in a Big Ten tournament game.
• Northwestern's senior class of McIntosh, Scottie Lindsey and Gavin Skelly completed their careers with 74 victories, two shy of the school record held by the class of 2012.