Penn State Men’s Basketball Tops Iowa in Double-Overtime Thriller
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State got out to an extremely hot start, jumping out to an 11-2 lead in the first five minutes. It was a bell curve of a first half, though, as the score evened out throughout the half, and then Iowa went on a run of its own to close out the half.
The Hawkeyes tallied a 14-3 run to close out the first 20 minutes, holding Penn State to zero field goals in the final five minutes of the first half.
Seth Lundy was the story for Penn State in the first half. The junior came to play posting 12 points, five rebounds, two assists and one steal in the first 14 minutes of the game.
He also was the primary defender on the leading scorer in the Big Ten, Keegan Murray, who was 0-5 in the first half with no points.
For Iowa, the key in the opening frame was veteran guard Connor McCaffery. The senior came into the game on Monday night with four 3-pointers on the entire season, but he hit four out of his six 3-pointers in the first half, notching 12 points at the break.
The Nittany Lions started the second half in similar fashion to how they started the first. They opened up on an 11-5 run.
A back-and-forth half led itself to an ugly finish down the stretch. Both teams entered long scoring droughts, with Penn State going 3:30 without a field goal and Iowa only making one of its last 14 field goals before the final possession.
That final possession was a pretty important one, though. The Nittany Lions had the lead 65-64 with eight seconds left when Sam Sessoms went to the line to shoot a one-and-one. He nailed the first, but missed the second.
This set up an opportunity for Iowa. Jordan Bohannon missed a 3-pointer with one second remaining, but the high-flying Murray came out of nowhere to tip in the follow and send the game to an improbable overtime period.
Myles Dread was asked about the mindset heading into an overtime period after a play like that.
“Not too high, not too low,” Dread said.
To the delight of fans, though, that wasn’t the last miraculous game-tying shot of the night.
Myles Dread hit a game-tying 3-pointer with nine seconds left in the first overtime period to send the game to a second extra period of five.
John Harrar was asked about what was said in the huddle prior to Dread’s clutch shot. “I told Miles like, ‘Bro just shoot it, I have been with you for years,”” Harrar said. “‘I have seen six game winners so far from you, like if there is any guy, I want you to shoot it.’”
The Nittany Lions controlled the second overtime and held on to come away with a 90-86 victory.
Coach Shrewsberry talked after the game about why he was so demonstrative on the sideline during the overtime periods.
“I’ve experienced success in my career, but I want these guys to feel like that feeling is special,” Shrewsberry said. “I believe in you and I am going to fight for you and I want them to have so much success.”
Penn State now sits at 9-9 on the season and 4-6 in Big Ten play. The Nittany Lions will be back in action on Saturday when they travel to Madison to take on Wooden Award hopeful Johnny Davis and No. 11 Wisconsin.
Trevor Grady is a fourth-year majoring in supply chain. To contact him, email tmg5685@psu.edu.
