Ace Baldwin tallied 23 points and nine assists Saturday as Penn State used the 3-point line and the foul line to topple Indiana 83-74 in a Big Ten Conference game in University Park, Pa.
Zach Hicks added 17 points for the Nittany Lions (14-14, 8-9), while D’Marco Dunn scored 13. Qudus Wahab chipped in 11 points and 11 rebounds, and Nick Kern also tallied 11 points. Baldwin added four steals and four rebounds.
Malik Reneau poured in a game-high 27 points for the Hoosiers (14-13, 6-10), who lost their fourth straight game. Kel’el Ware added 16 points and eight rebounds but played just 22 minutes due to foul trouble. Trey Galloway finished with 11 points.
Indiana dominated in paint points with a 50-28 advantage but Penn State more than made up for it from long range and the foul line. The Nittany Lions were 9 of 21 from deep, while the Hoosiers made just 2 of 15, and also converted 26 of 30 free throws. Indiana was just 5 of 13 at the line in the second half.
Neither team got off to a particularly fast start but it took Indiana longer to find any sort of rhythm. Its first field goal didn’t come for nearly 3 1/2 minutes when Galloway converted a three-point play. Neither team cracked double figures for more than six minutes.
Penn State’s shots eventually started dropping just past the midway point of the first half, setting up an interesting contrast between a team lighting it up from 3-point range against one pounding the ball inside.
While the Hoosiers owned a 22-12 advantage in points in the paint, the Nittany Lions outscored them 15-0 from behind the arc before intermission. Baldwin was particularly tough with 15 points, including a pair of free throws that helped put his team up 40-34 at halftime.
–Field Level Media