Penn State's strong second half effort falls short in 80-72 loss to MSU
Penn State had no answer for Michigan State's Malik Hall on Wednesday night at the Bryce Jordan Center as Hall led the Spartans with 29 points, helping lead Michigan State to a 80-72 win over the Nittany Lions. Spartans guard Jaden Akins also had a big game with 20 points including 16 in the first half.
The loss is the second straight for the Nittany Lions, dropping their record to 12-13 on the season and 6-8 in conference play.
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Leading the Nittany Lions was Ace Baldwin who scored 15 points and recorded seven assists and two rebounds across 40 minutes. Zach Hicks and Nick Kern also had strong efforts in the loss with 15 and 14 points respectively.
Kanye Clary, coming off the bench played 23 minutes in the game, scoring eight points on 3-of-6 shooting from the field. He also had five rebounds, two assists, and two steals in the game.
The Nittany Lions in the game on Wednesday got off to a slow start, hitting just 11-of-29 attempts from the field in the first half including missing nine of their first 13 attempts in the game.
The slow offensive effort allowed Michigan State to jump out to a huge first half lead, leading by as much as 17 points at 43-26 with just under two and half minutes to play in the first half. The Nittany Lions ultimately would head into halftime down 45-31.
Coming out of halftime, Mike Rhoades' team would show some fight, going on a 7-1 run thanks to hitting four of their first five attempts from the field in the second half. They would cut Michigan State's 's lead down to as few eight points by the midway point of the second half but Michigan State would answer with a 6-0 run of their own to stretch the lead back to 14.
Following that run by Michigan State, the Nittany Lions would never be able to find sustained momentum the rest of the half before Zach Hicks hit back-to-back three pointers in the final minute, cutting the Spartans lead from 14 to eight, and giving the game its ultimate final score of 80-72.
UP NEXT
Penn State will be back in action on Saturday afternoon against the Nebraska Cornhuskers with tip off set for noon. The Cornhuskers enter the weekend 17-8 overall and 7-7 in conference play.
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