Stevens leads No. 24 Penn State over Indiana

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — Lamar Stevens scored nine of his 17 points in the second half and grabbed nine rebounds to lead No. 24 Penn State over Indiana 64-49 on Wednesday night.

Curtis Jones Jr. scored 12 points for the Nittany Lions (15-5, 5-4 Big Ten), who won their third straight and snapped a four-game losing skid to the Hoosiers.

Trayce Jackson-Davis led Indiana with 14 points. Justin Smith scored 13 for the Hoosiers (15-6, 5-5 Big Ten) who lost their second in a row after trailing the entire second half.

A back-and-forth first half that that featured seven lead changes and ended in a 28-28 tie gave way to a second half that was all Penn State.

The Nittany Lions took control with a 20-7 run in which they held the Hoosiers to just a pair of field goals in just over 11 minutes. Penn State pushed its lead to as many as 20 with 3:01 to play.

The teams traded baskets with lots of misses in the first half. Penn State made just 11 of 32 field goals in the first half while Indiana went 10-for-29. Despite their shooting struggles, the Hoosiers led most of the way but never by more than three. The Nittany Lions created their first momentum with a 6-0 run that put them up by four with 5:53 left, but their defense was suspect in the final minute.

Davis hit an uncontested jumper to put the Hoosiers back up with 35 seconds left before Dread tipped a ball in on the other end to make it 28-28 at halftime.

THE BIG PICTURE

Indiana: The Hoosiers had been on a bit of a tear shooting the ball. They had made 49.7% of their field goals over the three games before this one.

Penn State: The Nittany Lions have regained some of the swagger they had before a three-game skid knocked them from the Top 25 earlier this month. They attracted another big crowd inside the Bryce Jordan Center and seem to relish playing stingy defense.

UP NEXT

Indiana visits Ohio State on Saturday.

Nebraska hosts Penn State on Saturday.