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Huskers fall in OT to Penn State in first round of Big Ten Tourney

FINAL STATS

Nebraska came into its game vs. Penn State in the opening round of the Big Ten Tournament on Wednesday viewing it as one last chance to make the most of an otherwise frustrating season.

Just as things have gone seemingly all year, though, the Huskers just ran out of gas down the stretch in a 76-67 overtime loss at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C.

Despite trailing by as many as 11 points, Nebraska rallied back and tied the game on a 3-pointer by sophomore guard Glynn Watson with just 55.4 seconds left in regulation.

That would help send the game into overtime, but the Nittany Lions would control the entire extra period and outscore NU 16-7 over the final five minutes of play.

The Huskers shot just 34.2 percent from the field on the day and did not lead at any point in the game. Penn State wasn’t much better offensively, shooting 43.6 percent, but made up for it by dominating the lane with 28 points in the paint and 10 blocked shots.

Freshman center Mike Watkins was the star of the day, posting a game-high 18 points, 11 rebounds, and setting a Big Ten Conference Tournament record with eight blocks.

With the loss, Nebraska’s season likely comes to an end at 12-19 overall.

“I think in the end there were some guys that were just worn out,” head coach Tim Miles said. “But I was proud of them tonight coming out, and although we didn’t have great rhythm, we fought back, found a way to get it tied, and showed a lot of resilience that way…

“But that seemed like it summed up our year.”

Nebraska’s sluggish offense to end the regular season followed it into Wednesday, as the Huskers quickly fell behind 15-8 on a 3-pointer by Payton Banks just over five minutes into the game.

Senior guard Tai Webster answered with five straight points to cut the deficit to two, but the Nittany Lions came right back with a 10-1 to take their biggest lead of the half at 25-14 on a layup by Lamar Stevens with 9:33 to go.

But a 3-pointer by Webster, who scored 10 of his 12 points in the first half, capped off a 14-3 rally by the Huskers that tied the game up at 30-30 with 4:24 left.

As quickly as Nebraska got hot, however, it went right back to cold and did not score a point for the next four minutes, allowing PSU to go back up by eight.

Finally, a 3-pointer from sophomore forward Jack McVeigh ended the scoreless streak with just 11 seconds left and made it 38-33 going into halftime.

The Huskers shot just 35.3 percent from the field in the first half, but helped make up for it by hitting four of their eight 3-pointers. Penn State, on the other hand, shot 48.4 percent and scored 20 of their 38 points in the paint.

“We were 12-of-35 at the rim, and you’d expect to shoot 55-60 percent at the rim, at least, even in a well-contested game,” Miles said. “They did a good job of protecting the rim, even in transition. We just couldn’t get anything going at the rim. That hurts us.”

A 3-pointer by junior guard Evan Taylor helped cut the lead to 38-37 early in the second half, but then both teams went cold offensively and went more than three minutes of play without scoring a single point.

The Huskers has a scoreless streak of 3:44 during that stretch, but then the Nittany Lions would find their groove and went on a 13-4 run to go back up 51-41.

Offense would continued to come at a premium for the Huskers, who made just five of their first 22 shots from the field and 1-of-8 from behind the arc to start the second half.

Yet NU was still able to hang around, and a basket by Watson with 3:53 left cut the deficit to 55-50.

Nearly two minutes later, Taylor drained a 3-pointer to make it 56-53 and then Penn State was called for over and back to give the ball back to the Huskers.

Webster capitalized with a layup to get it to 56-55, but Stevens would later knock down two free throws with 1:22 to go to put PSU up 58-55.

Needing a big shot, Watson provided with a 3-pointer to tie it with 55.4 to play. Tony Carr made two free throws on the other end, but sophomore forward Edward Morrow answered with a layup to tie it up again at 60-60 with 22.5 to go.

That score would hold until the end of regulation, as a half-court heave by Watson was off the mark to send the game into overtime.

A 3-pointer by Stevens and two free throws by Josh Reaves pushed Penn State up to a 65-60 lead to start the extra period.

Shep Garner then rattled in a 3-pointer and the Nittany Lions would eventually go up 72-62 with 1:09 left to play. A three by McVeigh cut it to seven, but it was far too little, too late.

“They just made a couple plays down the stretch,” Webster said. “The ball just seemed like it wasn’t dropping in for us. We had a couple good looks, just unfortunately couldn’t capitalize on those looks.”

Taylor led NU with 15 points, while Watson followed up with 11 points and Morrow finished with eight points and 10 rebounds.

Stevens and Garner ended up with 16 points each, but it was Nebraska’s inability to find an answer for Watkins that was the difference in the game.

“Obviously he’s a good player, so he’s going to make some plays,” Taylor said. “I feel like our bigs, they did a good job on him. Us as guards could have done more, but there’s not really much to say about it. Credit to him for having a good game when it mattered.”

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