Rutgers men's basketball survives Penn State comeback on Senior Day
The Rutgers men’s basketball team defeated Penn State 59-58 on an emotional Senior Day at Jersey Mike’s Arena on Livingston campus. The Scarlet Knights (18-12, 12-8) closed their regular season by snapping their three-game losing streak to the Nittany Lions (12-16, 7-13).
Before the game, seniors Geo Baker, Ron Harper Jr., Caleb McConnell, Luke Nathan and graduate student Ralph Gonzales-Agee along with senior team managers were honored in front of a roaring home crowd. Each team member was given a commemorative picture frame.
“I’m thankful I got guys that wanted to stay. I’m most proud of them that they stayed and continued to build this program the right way,” said head coach Steve Pikiell after the game. “It was sad when they started walking out.”
Within the first minute of game action, sophomore center Clifford Omoruyi picked up two fouls, forcing sophomore forward Dean Reiber and Gonzales-Agee into an increased role for the entire half.
Reiber in particular responded to the challenge, scoring all 9 of his points in the frame. He supplemented that with stout defense on Penn State’s frontline. The Greensboro, North Carolina, native finished with 9 points and three rebounds in 16 minutes of work.
Thanks in part to Reiber’s efforts, Rutgers raced out to an early lead, with the lead reaching double digits with 10:17 left in the first half. The Knights maintained a sizable lead all the way to the halftime break, leading 29-21 at intermission.
Coming out of the locker room, Rutgers went right to work at expanding its lead, embarking on a 7-0 run that made its lead 15 points with 17:37 to play. The Knights would equal this lead once more, making the score 46-31 with 12:39 remaining.
From that point forward, the Nittany Lions creeped their way back into the game. Rutgers’ lead was officially brought under 10 points on a Seth Lundy layup with 7:55 to go.
An Omoruyi jumper with 5:35 to go would be the Knights’ final field goal of the entire game, as they would go scoreless for nearly 4 minutes of game time. With 2 minutes left to play, the game was tied.
Harper gave Rutgers the lead for good with a free throw with 1:41 remaining, but Penn State would have its fair share of chances to steal a Senior Day win. Two McConnell free throws and a Baker free throw made it a 59-55 game with 17 seconds left until Sam Sessoms quickly buried a three-pointer on the opposite end to bring it back to a 1-point game.
A Knights turnover on the inbounds pass with 4 seconds left provided the Nittany Lions with one last chance to pull off the upset. Thanks to Baker’s defense, Sessoms’ shot missed to the left and Rutgers escaped with the victory.
“I never thought it was over. (Penn State has) a really good basketball team. They got a lot of talent,” Harper said. “I told these guys before the game, their record doesn’t display how good they actually are. They play tough games night in and night out, and a lot of their losses are really tight games.”
Harper led the Knights in scoring with 15 points while McConnell grabbed a team-high six rebounds. In his final game at Jersey Mike’s Arena, Baker scored 6 points and dished out five assists, second to junior guard Paul Mulcahy, who had six assists.
The Rutgers defense made the Nittany Lions work for every basket all afternoon as Penn State finished shooting 32.1 percent and 25 percent from three. In the first half, the Nittany Lions were held to 17.86 percent shooting and 8.33 percent three-point shooting.
"As a first-year head coach, I admire what (Pikiell’s) building here. And I'm almost envious,” said Penn State head coach Micah Shrewsberry after the game. “My hope one day is to make Penn State the same exact way. He found guys that fit him. Tough individuals."
Lundy led the Nittany Lions with 17 points to go along with John Harrar, who had 15 points and a team-high 17 rebounds. Sessoms was the last of the double-digit scorers with 13 points. Penn State finishes its Big Ten regular season at 7-13.
The Knights will take a 12-8 conference record into this week’s Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis. Rutgers is guaranteed to enter the tournament as at least a five-seed, its highest seed in the Big Ten Tournament in program history. As for the NCAA Tournament, the Knights remain in contention for a bid with the win today.
“I wish I can tell you yes or no, but it’s up to the committee,” Harper said. “I think this is a great team. I think we deserve to play on that platform … but before that, we’re going to the Big Ten Tournament, we got some business to take care of down there.”
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