Rutgers finishes off Penn State with eye on Big Ten
Senior Ron Harper Jr. scored 15 points and hit a go-ahead free throw with 1:41 to play as Rutgers edged Penn State, 59-58, in Piscataway after blowing a 15-point second-half lead on Sunday.
Caleb McConnell added two free throws with 31.4 seconds left and Geo Baker hit one to give the Scarlet Knights (18-12, 12-8 Big Ten) a 59-55 lead with 17 seconds to play.
Sam Sessoms closed the lead to 59-58 with a 3-pointer with 11 seconds to play. He had a chance to win the game after Paul Mulcahy threw away an inbounds pass next to the Penn State bench with four seconds left.
Sessoms took a cross-court pass and his contested 3-pointer at the buzzer came up short.
The Nittany Lions had a chance to tie the game at 58 with 20 seconds to go, but Greg Lee missed a 3-pointer.
Cliff Omoruyi and Dean Reiber added nine points apiece for Rutgers, which did not score a basket in the final 5:35.
John Harrar scored 15 points with 17 rebounds for Penn State (12-16, 7-13), which lost its third straight game. It was his 11th double-double of the season. Seth Lundy added 17 points and Sessoms finished with 13. The Nittany Lions were 6 of 24 from long range.
Rutgers twice led by 15 points in the second half, the last time at 46-31 with 12:39 left in regulation.
At that point, it seemed the Scarlet Knights were taking another step closer to a second straight NCAA Tournament berth. They almost blew it and the way the game ended didn’t help their chances of getting an at-large berth. Rutgers was 9 of 17 from the free-throw line.
Omoruyi picked up two fouls in the opening 61 seconds and it didn’t hurt the Scarlet Knights. Reiber came off the bench and quickly hit a 3-pointer and converted an ally-oop dunk that sparked an 18-7 run. Reiber finished with all nine of his points in the half as the Scarlet Knights built a 29-21 lead.
The Scarlet Knights used an 11-0 run bridging the end of the first half and the start of the second to build a 36-21 lead.
MICHIGAN 75, OHIO STATE 69
DeVante’ Jones scored 21 points and visiting Michigan rallied in the second half, wrapping up its upand-down Big Ten regular season by beating No. 23 Ohio State.
Fill-in coach Phil Martelli guided the Wolverines (17-13, 11-9) as coach Juwan Howard finished out his five-game suspension for hitting a Wisconsin assistant in a postgame handshake line.
Howard is expected back on the
sidelines when the Big Ten conference begins this week.
E.J. Liddell recorded his eighth double-double with 16 points and 13 rebounds for Ohio State (1910, 12-8).
LONGWOOD 79, WINTHROP 58
Isaiah Wilkins scored 19 points and Longwood advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time with a 79-58 victory over Winthrop in the Big South tournament championship game in Charlotte.
Top-seeded Longwood (26-6) never trailed, led by as many as 21 in the first half, 28 in the second half and cruised against the second-seeded Eagles (23-9), a perennial Big South power that had won the last two conference tournament titles and hoped to win its 19th overall.
The two division champions came in on a roll. Winthrop had won its last 10 games, its previous loss coming to the Lancers, 92-88, in the regular season. Longwood had won seven straight and was making its first conference tournament championship appearance. Winthrop beat the Lancers in the semifinals last year.