No. 16 Maryland beats Penn State 68-64 to inch closer to double bye in Big Ten tourney
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — Derik Queen had 23 points, Ja’kobi Gillespie scored 19 and No. 16 Maryland beat Penn State 68-64 on Saturday.
Selton Miguel added 17 points for the Terrapins (22-7, 12-6 Big Ten), who overcame a 36-30 halftime deficit to snap a seven-game losing streak in Happy Valley.
Ace Baldwin Jr. had 18 points and D’Marco Dunn scored 14 for the Nittany Lions (15-15, 5-14), who needed to win out and get help in the standings to make the 15-team Big Ten Tournament.
Julian Reese grabbed 15 rebounds for the Terps, who entered the game as one of four Power Four teams with all five starters scoring in double figures.
Takeaways
Maryland: The Terps inched closer to a top-four seed and a double bye in the conference tourney with the win.
Penn State: The Nittany Lions did all they could to keep their postseason hopes alive but couldn’t overcome miscues in another close loss. This was their ninth loss by six points or less, tied with Northwestern for most in the Big Ten.
Key Moment
With Maryland up 66-64 and 44 seconds to play, Baldwin missed what would’ve been a tying jumper. Reese grabbed his 15th rebound and set up Rodney Rice for a bucket on the other end that put the game out of reach with 17 seconds left.
Key stat
Maryland made Penn State pay for its mistakes and turned 16 Nittany Lion turnovers into 21 points.
Up next
Maryland visits No. 15 Michigan on Wednesday night before closing out the regular season at home against Northwestern on March 8. Penn State wraps up its regular season with a visit to No. 11 Wisconsin on March 8.
___
Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball
By TRAVIS JOHNSON
Associated Press
