PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Oumar Ballo scored 25 points and grabbed 13 rebounds as Indiana held off a late rally to beat Penn State 77-71 in a game played at The Palestra in Philadelphia on Sunday.
The game was the fifth Big Ten Conference contest Penn State has held at “The Cathedral of College Basketball” and the Nittany Lions lost for the second time.
Nick Kern Jr. hit two free throws in the final minute to tie the game at 29-29 going into intermission, but the Hoosiers got two 3-pointers and a layup from Mackenzie Mgbako to open the second half and Myles Rice and Ballo each converted layups to push the lead to 41-29 three minutes in. Trey Galloway’s 3-pointer midway through the half made it 61-45 before the Nittany Lions went on an 8-1 run to cut the deficit to 62-53.
Penn State missed its first 13 shots from behind the 3-point arc before Freddie Dilione V and Kern hit back-to-back 3s to get within four, 65-61 with 5:50 left. Ballo responded by powering to the basket for a layup at the rim and added the free throw to push the lead back to seven points. Zach Hicks hit a third-straight 3 to get the Nittany Lions within 73-71 with 1:43 left but Mgbako and Rice each hit two free throws to set the final margin. Ace Baldwin missed three 3-point attempts in the final 17 seconds and Dilione missed a fourth at the buzzer.
Mgbako finished with 20 points and Goode added another 12 for Indiana (12-3, 3-1).
Kern finished with 21 points for Penn State (12-3, 2-2). Baldwin added 12 and Dilione 11.
Penn State plays at No. 22 Illinois and Indiana plays host to USC, both on Wednesday.
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