Penn State Wins Third-Straight with 75-71 Road Victory at Ohio State

By Kenny Varner Jr.
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Updated: February 23, 2023

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Courtesy of GoPSU Athletics
Pickett’s 21 second-half points push Penn State over Ohio State

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Penn State men’s basketball team won its third-straight game with a gritty 75-71 road victory at Ohio State Thursday night.

Jalen Pickett scored 14 of his game-high 23 points in the final 7:15 as Penn State closed the back-and-forth game on a 14-8 run and limited the Buckeyes to just four field goals in the final 7:30.

Pickett finished with 23 points, 21 of which were scored in the second half after battling first-half foul trouble. Seth Lundy tallied 19 points and five rebounds in another efficient performance, while Camren Wynter had a huge game with 18 points and six rebounds.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Six early points from Lundy helped the Nittany Lions get out to a 12-8 lead just over three minutes into the game. The Buckeyes scored the next five to jump ahead 13-12 before a Wynter step-back was followed by back-to-back Evan Mahaffey layups to put the Nittany Lions ahead 19-13 with 12 minutes left on the first-half clock.
Ohio State eventually pulled back ahead by one at 24-23 four minutes later before a back-and-forth final eight minutes of the first half. Wynter scored Penn State’s final five points of the half and the Nittany Lion defense held OSU scoreless for the final2:08 as the score was knotted up at 37-37 heading into the locker room.
A 10-5 Penn State run that was powered by seven Jalen Pickett points from the 16:42 to 13:59 mark of the second half gave the Nittany Lions a 55-49 edge six minutes into the stanza.
The Buckeyes responded with an 8-0 over the next two-plus minutes before back-to-back Wynter buckets snapped the streak and put the score at 59-57 with 10:05 to play.
OSU was ahead 63-61 three minutes later before Pickett scored all nine points of a 9-2 Penn State streak and the Nittany Lions held the Buckeyes scoreless for a four-minute stretch to grab a 70-65 lead with 2:59 left on the clock.
The Buckeyes scored the next two baskets to pull within one at 70-69 with 1:24 left. Pickett stepped up with a massive and-one at the 59 second mark to give Penn State a four-point cushion at 73-69.
The Buckeyes made a jumper before Pickett hit two free throws with 28 seconds left. The Nittany Lion defense held strong on the final possession despite a fury of Ohio State offensive rebounds to walk away with the 75-71 win.

GAME NOTES

Penn State earned its third-straight win and second-straight road win. The Nittany Lions are now 17-11 overall and 8-9 in Big Ten play.
The Nittany Lions tallied their Penn State single-season record 295th 3-pointer of the season with Camren Wynter’s triple at the 17:29 mark of the first half. The previous program record stood with the 2017-18 team’s 294 treys through 39 games played (NIT Champions). The 2022-23 Nittany Lions set the new benchmark in just their 28th game of the season.
The Nittany Lions finished the game with 10 triples on a 52.6 percent (10-19) clip from downtown.
Penn State limited the damage from behind the arc, keeping Ohio State to a 34.8 percent effort from downtown, under its season average of 35.8 percent.
Penn State secured back-to-back Big Ten road victories for the first time since Feb. 23, 2021 and March 7, 2021 when it defeated Nebraska and Maryland.
Jalen Pickett posted his third-straight 20-point game and has scored 96 points in the last three games combined.
Seth Lundy has now scored in double figures in all but three games this season.
Camren Wynter made a season-high four 3-pointers and finished 7-for-12 from the field and 4-for-5 from deep for his 18 points.

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