U-M Relinquishes Second-Half Lead to Fall at Penn State
STATE
COLLEGE, Pa. -- Junior guard Tim Hardaway Jr. (Miami, Fla./Palmetto
Senior) led the team with 19 points, while sophomore guard Trey Burke
(Columbus, Ohio/Northland HS) finished with 18, but the University of
Michigan men's basketball team (No. 4 AP, No. 4 ESPN/USA Today) fell,
84-78, at Penn State on Wednesday night (Feb. 27) inside Bryce Jordan
Center. U-M led by as many as 15 points in the game but went without a
field goal for the final 6:30, allowing Penn State to gain control.
Senior/junior
forward Jordan Morgan (Detroit, Mich./University of Detroit Jesuit)
scored 11 points, and freshman guard Nik Stauskas (Mississauga,
Ontario, Canada/St. Mark's School [Mass.]) tallied 12 points and a
team-high eight rebounds.
The Wolverines shot 30-of-58 (52
percent) from the floor in the game but just 5-of-20 (25 percent) from
behind the arc, while the Nittany Lions made 27-of-57 (47 percent) from
the field, including 10-of-20 (50 percent) from behind the three-point
line. U-M also committed 15 turnovers in the game, off which Penn State
converted 20 points.
Back-to-back slams by Morgan and
junior/sophomore forward Jon Horford (Grand Ledge, Mich./Grand Ledge),
respectively, helped the Maize and Blue lead by as many as 15 points
halfway through the second stanza, but Penn State then outscored
Michigan 26-8 to take 77-74 lead with just three minutes to play. At
the 1:21 mark, Burke made two from behind the charity stripe to make it
a one-point game (79-78), but the Nittany Lions scored on their next
possession to seal it.
Michigan went on a 7-0 run to take a
17-10 lead seven minutes into the game, but Penn State halted the run
with a triple and cut its deficit to just one (24-23) over the next six
minutes of play. Another triple by the Nittany Lions at the 3:34 mark
once again tied the game at 30-all, and Penn State retook the lead off
a pair of free throws a minute and a half later.
The Wolverines
responded, however, with a three-point field goal by Stauskas followed
by a pair from behind the charity stripe by freshman guard Glenn
Robinson III (St. John, Ind./Lake Central) to go up three. With 10
seconds on the clock, freshman forward Mitch McGary (Chesteron,
Ind./Brewster Academy [N.H.]) picked up a steal and finished with a
fastbreak layup to enter the halftime break with the 39-36 edge.
A
layup by Robinson out of the locker room started an 8-0 run to give U-M
its first double-digit lead (47-36) of the game. Penn State then went
on a 7-2 run of its own to cut Michigan's advantage to four, before
Stauskas and Hardaway knocked down back-to-back three-point field goals
to go back up 10 (55-45).
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