Tre Donaldson scored 21 points Monday night, including the last seven of a game-ending nine-point flurry that gave Michigan a 76-72 Big Ten Conference win over visiting Penn State in Ann Arbor, Mich.
The Nittany Lions (13-8, 3-7) were on the verge of one of their best wins of the season after Ace Baldwin Jr. sank a pair of free throws for a 72-67 lead with 2:08 remaining, but the Wolverines (15-5, 7-2) responded.
Roddy Gayle Jr. dunked with 1:42 left off a Donaldson pass to cut the margin to three and Donaldson sank a mid-range jumper with 58 seconds on the clock.
After Danny Wolf rejected Nick Kern Jr.’s layup, Donaldson drove, stepped back and buried a 3-pointer from the right wing for a 74-72 edge with 24 seconds remaining.
Donaldson then rebounded Baldwin’s missed 3-pointer, drew a foul and made both ends of a one-and-one with 4 ticks remaining to ice the win for Michigan.
Wolf added 11 points and nine rebounds, while Nimari Burnett hit for 10 points as the Wolverines connected on 12 of 28 3-point attempts (42.9 percent).
Kern scored 16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for Penn State, while Baldwin added 15 points, six assists and three steals. D’Marco Dunn came off the bench to net 13 points.
Coming off its first blowout loss of the year – a 91-64 defeat Friday night at then-No. 11 Purdue that knocked it out of the Top 25 – Michigan led most of the first half but struggled to gain separation from Penn State.
Neither team led by more than six points during a first half that included seven ties. The Wolverines were up 17-11 when Burnett dunked off a feed from Vladislav Goldin at the 14:24 mark but the Nittany Lions wouldn’t let them pull away.
Penn State took its first lead with 5:54 left in the first half on a 3-pointer by Dunn that made it 28-27. Michigan fought back to earn a four-point advantage before the Nittany Lions earned a 35-35 tie at the break on two foul shots by Kern with 41 seconds remaining.
–Field Level Media
