There was no second-half magic for Penn State in their third game in three nights in the Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament, but the Nittany Lions showed plenty of fight against one of the best teams in the Big Ten as they were eliminated from the conference tournament. Penn State came up short against No. 9 Purdue on Friday night, with the Boilermakers advancing to Saturday’s semi-final round. Penn State’s season, in all likelihood, has officially come to an end.
Penn State trailed Purdue 35-31 at halftime and did everything it could to keep pace with Purdue in the second half, but the Boilermakers slightly out-paced Penn State after halftime to build on to its lead. But Penn State did push Purdue in a competitive effort, creating a one-game possession late in the game before Purdue held off the upset bid.
John Harrar recorded another double-double in his final game in a Penn State uniform. Harrar provided Penn State with 15 points and 12 rebounds in a tough matchup. And Jalen Pickett and Sam Sessoms each provided the scoring spark for the Nittnay Lions to keep things within reach.
But the player of the game was in a Purdue uniform, that being Jaden Ivey. Ivey led all players with 17 points scored in the Purdue win.
Penn State’s season ends with an overall record of 14-17 and 7-13 in Big Ten play. Despite the losing record in the first season under Micah Shrewsberry, the future outlook of the program is already looking to be trending upward. Penn State got a glimpse of the future with a late second-half run ignited by Dallion Johnson and Jaheam Cornwall, and Shrewsberry has already started to get to work on one of the better recruiting classes Penn State has built for the program in a long time.
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