Drew Thelwell and Owen Freeman scored 16 points apiece to help Iowa nip visiting Penn State 76-75 on Friday night in Iowa City.
Josh Dix supplied 11 points for the Hawkeyes (13-7, 4-5 Big Ten), while Payton Sandfort added 10 points. Iowa snapped a three-game losing streak despite not scoring a point in the final three minutes.
The Nittany Lions (13-7, 3-6) scored the final seven points of the game but still fell to 1-5 in their last six outings. Nick Kern Jr. scored 18 points and Yanic Konan Niederhauser had 13 to pace the visitors.
Iowa was clinging to a three-point lead early in the second half when Brock Harding and Thelwell made 3-pointers to push the advantage to 53-44. Sandfort connected on a 3-pointer shortly thereafter, then Dix knocked one down from long distance to make it 67-57 with about nine minutes left.
The Hawkeyes led 76-68 with under three minutes remaining when Konan Niederhauser dunked following a spin move down low. The Swiss big man made a short jumper with about 1 1/2 minutes left to get the Nittany Lions within 76-73 and then drained two free throws to get his team within 76-75 with 53 seconds to play.
Penn State had several chances to take the lead in the waning seconds.
First, Ace Baldwin Jr. missed a 3-pointer. Zach Hicks corralled the rebound but took a wild 3-point shot from the corner, not realizing there were about seven seconds remaining.
Thelwell missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 2.8 seconds left, giving the Nittany Lions one final chance. Dilione’s 3-point attempt came just after the buzzer — and it missed anyway — as the final horn sounded.
The game was tied six times in the first eight minutes, the final one coming at 19-all before Iowa began to create some separation.
With under nine minutes left in the first half, Sandfort drained a 3-pointer and Freeman dropped in a layup to put the hosts ahead 30-23. With about five minutes to play, Dix’s jumper gave the Hawkeyes their first double-digit lead at 37-27, although the Nittany Lions clawed back within 43-38 at the break.
–Field Level Media
