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Penn State falls to Minnesota in men’s basketball

STATE COLLEGE — The Penn State men’s basketball team dropped a tough 69-61 battle to Minnesota Tuesday night inside the Bryce Jordan Center. The Nittany Lions owned a four-point halftime lead, but Minnesota shot nearly 70% from the field in the second half to leave Happy Valley with the road victory.

D’Marco Dunn led Penn State with a career high-tying 18 points. Zach Hicks and Ace Baldwin Jr. followed with 11 points apiece, while Nick Kern Jr. added 10 points and seven rebounds. The Nittany Lions played without starting big man Yanic Konan Niederhauser due to injury.

The Nittany Lions started 0-for-6 from the field, but a strong defensive effort limited the early damage as Minnesota was just 2-for-8 from the field with two turnovers and the Gophers owned a 4-0 lead six minutes into the game.

D’Marco Dunn scored Penn State’s first basket at the 13:44 mark and Dominick Stewart followed with a triple before Dunn added two more points from the free throw line and Penn State quickly pulled in front 7-4 just under eight minutes into the contest.

The Nittany Lion defense kept Minnesota to 5 for 19 from the field with seven turnovers through the first 16-plus minutes of action. The Nittany Lions made five of six field goals from the 7:28 mark to the 4:21 mark to string together a 10-5 run that put Penn State ahead 20-13 at the under-4 media timeout.

A Dunn triple at 2:11 gave Penn State its first double-digit lead at 25-15, but the Gophers responded with six unanswered points to close the half and trim the Nittany Lion lead down to 25-21 heading into the locker room.

Penn State’s lead was at seven following an Ace Baldwin Jr. 3-pointer two minutes into the second half that put the score at 32-25.

Minnesota 69, Penn State 61

MINNESOTA (12-11, 4-8)

Dawson Garcia 7-15 5-7 19; Parker Fox 2-3 2-2 6; Mike Mitchell Jr. 3-7 0-0 9; Femi Odukale 1-2 0-0 2; Lu’cye Patterson 6-10 2-2 14; Isaac Asuma 2-7 1-2 5; Trey Edmonds 0-0 0-0 0; Frank Mitchell 0-0 0-0 0; Brennan Rigsby 5-5 2-2 14; Caleb Williams 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-49 12-15 69.

PENN STATE (13-10, 3-9)

Kachi Nzeh 0-2 0-2 0; Zach Hicks 2-6 6-8 11; Ace Baldwin Jr. 5-13 0-0 11; Nick Kern 3-9 3-4 10; Freddie Dilione V 2-9 2-2 6; D’Marco DUnn 6-11 4-4 18; Miles Goodman 1-2 0-0 2; Dominick Stewart 1-5 0-0 3; Jahvin Carter 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 20-58 15-20 61.

Halftime: PSU 25-21. 3-point goals: Minnesota 5-14 (Mitchell Jr. 3-6, Rigsby 2-2, Patterson 0-1, Garcia 0-2), PSU 6-20 (Dunn 2-4, Stewart 1-4, Baldwin IV 1-3, Kern 1-3, Hicks 1-5). Fouled out: Minnesota-Odukale; PSU-Kern. Rebounds: Minnesota 35 (Garcia 14), PSU 30 (Kern 7). Assists: Minnesota 12 (Mitchell Jr. 3, Patterson 3), PSU 11 (Baldwin Jr. 5). Technical fouls: Minnesota-Odukale; PSU-none. Total fouls: Minnesota 19, PSU 17. A: 6,750.

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