Penn State men’s basketball defeats Nebraska in wire-to-wire game at home

STATE COLLEGE — The Penn State men’s basketball team shot 68 percent from the field in the second half to earn a 76-65 win over Nebraska on Saturday afternoon at the Bryce Jordan Center.

Andrew Funk dominated the first half for the Nittany Lions, scoring 16 of his powerful 23 points in the opening frame. The Cornhuskers tied the game with a 10-4 run after halftime, but the Nittany Lions responded immediately, making 16 of their last 21 shots to earn the double-digit win.

Funk drilled five 3-pointers, including his 250th career triple, en route to his game-high 23 points. Seth Lundy (16 points) and Jalen Pickett (12 points) joined Funk in double digits. Pickett added a game high with 13 rebounds and five assists to rack up his sixth double-double of the season.

The Nittany Lions blew out of the gates with 10 points in the first 2:16, including two threes for Andrew Funk and one for Seth Lundy. Funk was fouled on his first three-point game and converted the four-point game as the Nittany Lions roared out of the gates for a 10-0 lead.

The Huskers scored the next eight points to move to 10-8 before Penn State’s defense faltered and the Nittany Lions conceded just four field goals from Nebraska in the remainder of the half.

Back-to-back triples from Dallion Johnson sparked an 11-6 run from Penn State over the last 4:14 of the half as the Nittany Lions put a 29-23 advantage in the dressing room.

Nebraska tied the score at 33, just over three minutes into the second half, before Lundy immediately responded with a 3-pointer that sparked a strong response from Penn State. Penn State went off the field 7-for-9 as Lundy scored eight and Pickett added six to put together a 19-8 Nittany Lion run and take a 52-41 lead with 11:52.

Eleven points from Nebraska’s Keisei Tominaga fueled a 13-5 Nebraska series over the next 3:35 as the Huskers closed the gap to three at 57-54 and left the clock at 8:17.

Funk had two layups to help the Nittany Lions respond with the next five points. Penn State retired from there and made seven of its last nine shots from the field for the 76-65 win.

NEBRASKA (10-10, 3-6 BIG TENS)

Derrick Walker 9-14 2-4 20; Sam Griesel 3-9 5-6 11; Denim Dawson 1-4 1-4 4; Emmanuel Bandoumel 1-2 0-0 2;;; Keisei Tominaga 4-9 3-3 13; CJ Wilcher 4-6 0-0 11; Jamarques Lawrence 1-3 0-5 2; Wilhelm Breidenbach 0-4 2-2 2nd overall 23-51 13-24 64.

PENN STATE (13-6, 4-4 BIG TEN)

Seth Lundy 5-10 3-4 16; Kebba Njie 0-1 0-0 0; Andrew Funk 8-13 2-2 23; Camren Wynter 3-7 0-0 6; Jalen Pickett 6-8 0-1 12; Kanye Clary 2-4 2-3 6; Myles Dread 1-5 2-2 5; Michael Henn 0-0 0-0 0; Evan Mahaffey 0-1 0-0 0; Caleb Dorsey 0-2 2-2 2; Dallion Johnson 2-4 0-0 6th Overall 27-55 11-14 76th

Halftime: PSU 29-23. 3-Point Goals: Nebraska 6:22 (Wilcher 3:5, Tominaga 2:7, Dawson 1:2, Bandoumel 0:1, Breidenbach 0:3, Griesel 0:4), PSU 11:30 (Funk 5: 10 , Lundy 3-7, Johnson 2-3, Dread 1-5, Pickett 0-2, Wynter 0-3). Fouled out: Nebraska-none; PSU Mahaffey. Rebounds: Nebraska 31 (Dawson 9), PSU 33 (Pickett 13). Assists: Nebraska 14 (Walker 6), PSU 12 (Pickett 5). Technical fouls: Nebraska team; PSU-none. Total fouls: Nebraska 12, PSU 22. A: 11,297.

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