Penn State Men’s Basketball Beats Northwestern 68-65 on Last Second Shot in Overtime

It was textbook. Evan Mahaffey crashed the glass, grabbed the rebound and swung a cross-court pass to Andrew Funk with a poise years his senior. Funk then snapped the ball off to Cam Wynter who stood alone in the corner before collecting his thoughts and rising up to fire a game-winning three with .7 seconds to go.

68-65, Penn State (18-12, 9-10) as the Nittany Lions knocked off Northwestern in overtime.

In a vacuum Wednesday night’s victory in Evanston was a minor miracle for Penn State in the department of games course corrected in real time. The Nittany Lions entered the night the No. 1 team in the nation in total turnovers [meaning a small number not large] and No. 4 in the nation in assist to turnover ratio. Simply put, Penn State doesn’t cough up the ball. And yet in spite of that, Northwestern forced nine Penn State turnovers in the opening 12 minutes before eventually leading 20-10 with 5:42 to go in the first half. It was a defensive flurry by Northwestern and a slogging, dulled offensive attack by Penn State. Nothing was going the Nittany Lions’ way.

But then in the late stages of the first half the turnovers stopped, the shots began to fall and suddenly Penn State found itself trailing by just a 28-24 at the break, erasing 15 or so minutes of ugly basketball with just enough good basketball to make up for it. Seth Lundy rebounded from his ugly outing against Rutgers with eight first half points while Andrew Funk and Cam Wynter each added six of their own.

Penn State would open the second half on a 13-5 run, but as the Nittany Lions were reminded as they blew a 19-point lead to Rutgers in their last outing, starting the second half well is only part of the battle, you have to finish well too. Or as often is the case in Big Ten play, you simply have to survive.

“We’re still the same team that went up by 19 against Rutgers,” Penn State coach Micah Shrewsberry said after the game, finding his glass half full rather than half empty.

For the middle portion of the second half both teams took the phrase “trading baskets” literally as a 15 shot span saw the teams quite literally trading baskets from the 11:42 mark to just 4:31 to go in regulation. With each Penn State make Northwestern would respond in kind. It was a basketball teeter-totter that saw Northwestern take a six-point lead on three different occasions only for Penn State to bounce back with crucial makes.

In the final minutes each team would have their chances as is customary in close games. Andrew Funk was Penn State’s best chance at the buzzer, clanging a fairly wide-open look off a pass from Pickett. Funk covered his face as he headed to the bench, perhaps not so much in dismay as much as to cover his mouth from any lip-readers interested in finding out if he ever substituted the N out of his last name in favor of a different letter.

Overtime was effectively the game in a nutshell, Northwestern making a few baskets and Penn State answering with a few of its own. Lundy would end the night with 14 points while Funk and Wynter would add 17 and 24 respectively. 11 assists by Pickett exemplified much of what had gone wrong against Rutgers. You can make all the passes in the world, but it sure helps if the shooters make their shots.

And on Wednesday they did. Penn State ended up shooting 46% from the field, pouring in 13 from beyond the arc, none bigger than Wynter’s open look in the corner. Of the Nittany Lions’ 24 made baskets, 19 of them were assisted.

The win itself only continues the “wait and see” quest Penn State has to stay on the right side of the NCAA Tournament bubble. A Sunday meeting against Maryland could fully change the narrative yet again and the Big Ten Tournament to follow is often were teams make a last minute push towards punching their ticket.

However it all pans out, fans can take some solace in the fact the Nittany Lions are chasing down another 20-win season and that the gap between the tournament and staying home could come down to a few games here or there, not the Susquehanna-wide gap it has often been. Missing out is missing out, but having a chance in March sure beats looking to next year in January.