Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Penn State heads to NIT title game
NEW YORK » Tony Carr scored 21 points, Shep Garner added 18 while breaking a school record for career 3-pointers and Penn State routed Mississippi State 7560 in the National Invitational Tournament semifinals Tuesday night.
The fourth-seeded Nittany Lions (2513) will play No. 2 seed Utah for the championship Thursday night at Madison Square Garden.
After the score was tied 9-all, Penn State ended the first quarter on a 9-2 run. From there, the Nittany Lions opened the second with a 19-0 spurt capped by Garner’s 3 off an assist from Carr to make it 37-11.
Penn State was up 42-23 at halftime and led by as many as 27.
Mississippi State (25-12) wasn’t able to get within 20 until there was 7:56 left in the game. Abdul Ado’s dunk made it 65-47, but that was the closest the Bulldogs got before the waning moments.
Lamar Stevens scored 17 points for Penn State. Carr had six assists and five rebounds. UTAH 69, WESTERN KENTUCKY 64 » Justin Bibbins scored 19 points and Sedrick Barefield added 14 points for the Utes (23-11), who advanced to the NIT championship game for the third time.
David Collette had 13 points and seven rebounds for second-seeded Utah. Tyler Rawson scored 12, including a 3-pointer that put the Utes ahead to stay with 38.1 seconds left.
Justin Johnson had 24 points for No. 4 seed Western Kentucky (27-11). Lamonte Bearden added 12 and Dwight Coleby scored 10.
The game went back and forth throughout and wasn’t decided until the final seconds. Utah took a 66-64 lead when Rawson hit a 3 from the right side to snap an 0-for-7 shooting slump for the Utes, who went 8:23 without a field goal.
On the ensuing possession, Bibbins drew a charge against Bearden and knocked down two free throws. Johnson missed a straightaway 3 at the other end, and Barefield’s free throw with five seconds to go made it 69-64.
Johnson’s spinning layup with 1:27 remaining put the Hilltoppers ahead 64-63.
Bibbins made all 12 free throws he attempted. He finished 3 for 8 from the field as Utah reached the NIT title game for the first time since losing to Purdue in 1974.
The teams went into halftime tied at 32 after Bearden’s buzzer-beating jam, and the score was tied 51-all after the third quarter.
BIG PICTURE
PENN STATE » While the Nittany Lions would have preferred to play in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2011, they made the NIT for the first time under seventh-year coach Pat Chambers. Penn State is back in the NIT title game for the first time since 2009, which it beat Baylor for the crown. The school’s only other appearance in the final was a loss to Minnesota in 1998.