Penn State basketball got a big boost for its tournament hopes with a thrilling win over Maryland.
March has treated Penn State very well. On the first of the month, they beat Northwestern at the buzzer in overtime. They followed up that ending with another buzzer beater against Maryland to win 65-64.
It was a great ending for the many seniors that played their last game in the Bryce Jordan Center.
Senior Night is always an emotional game for any program. It was especially emotional for Penn State on Sunday as they said goodbye to their seniors on their home floor for the last time.
Penn State started the game out hot, jumping to a 10-4 lead four minutes into the game. Maryland responded and went on a huge run as Penn State’s offense went ice cold.
After taking a 15-14 lead on senior [autotag]Michael Henn[/autotag]’s three, they didn’t score a point for over eight minutes.
By the time they broke the drought with four minutes left in the first half, Maryland had taken a 28-17 lead.
The deficit increased and the Nittany Lions went into the locker room trailing 35-22. It would have been worse if not for [autotag]Jalen Pickett[/autotag]’s buzzer beating three before halftime, a prequal to what was coming later in the game.
On Senior Night, it was the seniors who led the way for their comeback victory.
It was a game of runs in the second half. Penn State would cut into the deficit and then Maryland would extend it. The Nittany Lions were still trailing by ten points with five minutes left in the game.
From that point on, only seniors scored the rest of the way.
[autotag]Myles Dread[/autotag] hit a three to cut the lead to five. He finished the game with 11 points and three made three pointers. This is a good sign for Penn State and Dread who has been struggling late in the season.
With 43 seconds left, [autotag]Camren Wynter [/autotag]made a layup after a beautiful pass from Pickett to give Penn State their first lead of the second half.
Maryland’s [autotag]Julian Reese[/autotag] hit a layup of his own to get the lead back.
Trailing 64-63 with 19 seconds left, Penn State had one possession to win the game.
[autotag]Seth Lundy[/autotag] pulled up from three at the top of the key. The ball bounced off the rim and into a scrum of players. Wynter, the smallest player in the scrum, came up with the ball. He immediately went up and scored a layup to give Penn State a 65-64 victory.
That’s two game winners from Wynter in the last two games. He’s been on a tear down the stretch, playing a huge role in Penn State’s strong close to the regular season.
Pickett scored a team high 16 points, adding seven rebounds and seven assists. [autotag]Andrew Funk[/autotag] added 14 points with four three pointers. Wynter scored six points but had the most important basket of the game.
Maryland senior guard [autotag]Jahmir Young[/autotag] scored a game high 26 points with eight rebounds. Reese, [autotag]Don Carey[/autotag] and [autotag]Ian Martinez[/autotag] joined Young in double figures.
With this win, Penn State secured a bye in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament and will be playing on the second day.
Jalen Pickett, Seth Lundy, Andrew Funk, Camren Wynter, Michael Henn and Myles Dread were the seniors honored on Senior Day.
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