STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Tom Izzo was looking for consistency from his team Tuesday night at Penn State.
Instead of building off last weekend’s win over Indiana, however, the Spartans offered up another head-scratcher, letting a 14-point second-half lead disappear as Penn State rallied for a 62-58 victory over No. 19 Michigan State at the Bryce Jordan Center.
The Spartans (18-7, 9-5 Big Ten) now sit two games back in the loss column in the Big Ten standings with a home game against first-place Illinois on Saturday.
Michigan State was plagued, once again, by turnovers and poor defensive rebounding. The Spartans gave the ball up 11 times, but some critical giveaways in the second half proved costly as Penn State also grabbed 10 offensive rebounds. The last rebound by John Harrar was a killer as he put the miss back in and was fouled, giving the Nittany Lions a four-point lead with less than a minute to play.
The offense struggled for most of the game as Julius Marble scored 14 for the Spartans and Max Christie added 10.
Penn State (10-12, 5-9) was 10 for 25 from 3-point range and got 17 points from Seth Lundy and 15 from Harrar. Jalen Pickett added 10 points for the Nittany Lions.
The first half was a familiar one for Michigan State as the Spartans were plagued by turnovers and allowing offensive rebounds. They gave the ball up eight times in the opening half and allowed Penn State to grab seven offensive rebounds, leading to eight second-chance points.
Those numbers alone explained how Penn State shot 27.6% (8-for-29) in the first half yet found itself in a 24-24 tie at halftime. The five 3-pointers the Nittany Lions hit also played a role as Michigan State only took five from long distance and made two.
The start, at least, wasn’t as slow as has been the case lately for the Spartans. After a 3-pointer from Jaden Akins and a jumper on the baseline from Christie, the Spartans led, 16-9. It became 18-11 after a Marble jump hook with 9:30 to play in the half, but from there, Penn State started to take control.
A 13-4 run over the next eight minutes, one that included three triples for the Nittany Lions, helped give the home team a 24-22 lead. Mady Sissoko hit jump hook in the lane to end a five-minute scoring drought for the Spartans as the half closed with A.J. Hoggard failing to convert on a drive to the basket.
The Spartans came out firing in the second half, scoring the first eight points to take a 32-24 lead just more than two minutes in after Joey Hauser and Gabe Brown hit back-to-back 3-pointers after a pair of free throws from Christie.
Michigan State kept pushing, and after a Hauser triple and a jump hook from Marble, the Spartans had a 43-29 lead with 13:19 to play, the biggest lead of the game to that point.
However, Penn State responded by scoring the next 11 points while putting together a 15-2 run to pull within one at 45-44 with 8:30 to play in the game.
It went back and forth from there as Michigan State had several chances to pull away but couldn’t do so, and when Tyson Walker turned the ball over and Penn State answered with a 3-pointer from Lundy, the Spartans’ lead was down to 54-53 with three minutes to play. The Nittany Lions then got a jumper from Lundy and a three-point play from Harrar to take a 58-54 lead.
Marble scored with 23.9 seconds left to make it a two-point game but the Nittany Lions put the game away at the free-throw line.
