National Basketball Association
Northwestern 67, Penn St. 66
When: 9:00 PM ET, Saturday, February 25, 2012
Where: Bryce Jordan Center, University Park, Pennsylvania
Officials:
# Wally Rutecki, # Gene Steratore, # Ryan Tyburksi
Attendance:
8513
By SportsDirect Inc.
NORTHWESTERN 67, PENN STATE 66: John Shurna scored 23 points, including a pair of free throws with 2.6 seconds remaining, as the Wildcats pulled out a rare conference road victory.
Shurna, the Big Ten’s leading scorer, enjoyed a fine all-around game with six rebounds and five blocks for Northwestern (17-11, 7-9 Big Ten), which improved to 2-6 in league play away from home and ended a 10-year drought at Penn State.
After Shurna hit a jumper to give the Wildcats a 65-63 advantage with 3:13 remaining, Tim Frazier - the Big Ten's second-leading scorer - missed a jumper on the other end but grabbed the offensive rebound, converted the layup and drew a foul.
Once Frazier hit the free throw to cap off his three-point play with 2:48 left in the contest, the game remained scoreless until Shurna drew a foul in the final seconds.
Shurna drained both free throws to give Northwestern a 67-66 lead and the win after Frazier’s heave from near half court came up short at the buzzer.
Frazier finished with 23 points – his conference-leading 15th 20-point game of the season – for Penn State (12-17, 4-12), which remains in a tie with Nebraska at the bottom of the conference.
GAME NOTEBOOK: For the second time in three games, Shurna matched his career high in blocked shots. … Northwestern went 15 of 29 from the 3-point line, marking the ninth time this season it made at least 10 3-pointers and the third time that more than half of its points came beyond the arc. … Penn State enjoyed a 40-10 advantage in the paint, but was outscored 45-9 from the 3-point line.
Top Game Performances
| Northwestern |
|
Penn St. |
|
John Shurna 23 |
Scoring |
Tim Frazier 23 |
|
John Shurna 6 |
Assists |
Tim Frazier 8 |
|
Drew Crawford 9 |
Rebounds |
Ross Travis 9 |
|
John Shurna 6 |
Free Throws Made |
Tim Frazier 4 |
|
JerShon Cobb 3 |
Steals |
Sasa Borovnjak 1 |
|
John Shurna 5 |
Blocks |
N/A |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| Northwestern
|
67 |
44.0 |
15-29 |
8-12 |
15 |
18 |
6 |
8 |
9 |
| Penn St.
|
66 |
50.9 |
3-14 |
5-9 |
15 |
36 |
0 |
5 |
12 |