Hawkeyes Start Strong, Fade in Road Loss

Stats | Boxscore

Jan. 26, 2011

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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State used a 10-0 run to close out the first half before outscoring the University of Iowa men’s basketball team by 13 points over the second 20 minutes to cruise to a 65-51 victory on Wednesday night at the Bryce Jordan Center.

The Hawkeyes opened the game on a flurry, making 7-of-12 shots to start the game to jump out to a 16-7 lead. After a Talor Battle three-point play made the score 16-10, Bryce Cartwright drained a three-pointer and Andrew Brommer followed with a dunk to give Iowa the 21-10 lead with 10:10 to go in the first half.

From there, Penn State outscored Iowa 19-7 over the final 10 minutes of the half, which included a 10-0 run over the final 3:12 to take a 29-28 advantage into the locker room.

“I thought at the start we were ready to play, we executed, competed defensively and got a lead,” said UI head coach Fran McCaffery. “The last five minutes of the first half our energy level waned, and it wasn’t what it needed to be. We go in down one; we should never have been down one.”

“We basically buckled under the pressure,” said senior Jarryd Cole, who paced the Hawkeyes with 11 points in the contest. “They switched defenses and we knew they were going to switch it. We worked on it in practice all week and we just couldn’t overcome it.”

The Nittany Lions carried their momentum into half two, as they scored 11-of-the-first-16 points to stretch their advantage to seven at 40-33. Junior Matt Gatens halted the momentum with a long ball at the 13:34 mark, making the score 40-36.

After a long DJ Jackson jumper put Penn State up 42-36, Brommer converted an old-fashioned three-point play to pull the Hawkeyes to within a field goal (42-39) with 12:19 remaining in the contest.

Battle, the Big Ten’s leading scorer, immediately pushed his squad’s lead to nine points with a deep, deep three-pointer followed by a traditional three-point play, making the score 48-39 with 8:56 left. Iowa continued battling, however, as Roy Devyn Marble drained a triple at the 6:12 mark to pull the Hawkeyes to within five.

Penn State’s Jeff Brooks put an end to Iowa’s hopes, as he scored the next five points to stretch the lead to double digits before the Nittany Lions to pull away down the stretch en route to the 65-51 victory.

The Nittany Lions out rebounded the Hawkeyes, 30-21, in the contest and limited Iowa to 37.3 (19-51) shooting in the game. Penn State shot 53.2 percent, making 25-of-47 shot attempts.

Battle and Brooks combined to score 45 points for the Nittany Lions, making 17-of-30 shot attempts. Battle finished with a game-high 23 points, while Brooks had 22 with four three-pointers.

In addition to Cole, Gatens reached double digits, finishing with 10 points. Cartwright added nine points to go along with a game-high eight assists.

Iowa (8-12, 1-7) returns to the hardwood on Sunday afternoon at Michigan.