Jalen Pickett scored 20 points on 9-for-14 shooting, including 2 of 4 from 3-point range, and Penn State pulled away for a 67-46 win over Minnesota on Thursday afternoon in a Big Ten matchup at State College, Pa.
John Harrar registered a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds for Penn State (11-12, 6-9 Big Ten). Myles Dread added 12 points on 5-for-6 shooting and Dallion Johnson scored eight for the Nittany Lions, who have won two in a row.
Jamison Battle scored 16 points to lead Minnesota (12-12, 3-12). Luke Loewe had eight points and E.J. Stephens tallied seven as the Golden Gophers lost for the seventh time in their past eight games.
Pickett made back-to-back layups for Penn State to open the second half. That gave the Nittany Lions a double-digit lead at 31-19 with 18:45 to play.
A few minutes later, Penn State pushed its lead to 15 after another layup by Pickett made it 40-25 with 15:16 left.
Minnesota got within 11 on a layup by Battle, which cut the deficit to 44-33 with 13:07 remaining.
From there, the Nittany Lions took control. They went on a decisive 13-0 run to increase their lead to 57-33 with 9:05 to go. Pickett made a 3-pointer to punctuate the scoring outburst, which also included a three-point play by Johnson, two other baskets by Pickett and a 3-pointer by Dread.
The Golden Gophers never challenged after that and were outscored 40-27 in the second half.
Penn State built a 27-19 lead at the half.
The Nittany Lions jumped to an 18-5 lead midway through the first half. Penn State had an early 6-5 advantage when it went on a 12-0 run that featured a layup by Sam Sessoms, a 3-pointer by Caleb Dorsey, another layup by Sessoms, a 3-pointer by Pickett and a dunk by Jevonnie Scott.
Minnesota finally ended the run with a layup by Battle with 9:36 remaining in the half. That started an 8-0 run for the Golden Gophers to cut the deficit to 18-13 with 7:34 left.
–Field Level Media
