Rutgers men’s basketball defeated Penn State 74-62 in the last game of the regular season. The Scarlet Knights led for over 90 percent of the game and held several 20-point leads en route to their senior day win. With this win, Rutgers has swept both Maryland and Penn State in basketball this season.
The game was a back-and-forth affair through the first five minutes, with the Nittany Lions holding a 10-8 lead after the first five minutes of play. Rutgers would take the lead off a Tariq Francis three-pointer
before Kayden Powers would do the same nearly two minutes later to widen the Knights’ lead. From then on out, Rutgers was off to the races, outscoring the Nittany Lions 35-11 in the last 15 minutes of the first half as the Knights would head into the locker room with a 43-21 lead.
The beginning of the second half was more of the same, with Rutgers re-establishing its 20-point lead the first few times that Penn State started to string some buckets together. It wasn’t until the Knights held a 54-34 lead over the Nittany Lions with just over 12 minutes to go that they would start to dig themselves out of the hole they were in. By that point, the lead was too big, as the Knights held on to secure the 12-point victory.
Rutgers was the better team in almost every facet of this game. The Knights had a higher field goal percentage, three-point percentage, and free throw percentage. In addition to that, Rutgers had five more assists, three fewer turnovers, eight more fast break points, and two more points in the paint.
Francis once again led the team in scoring with 18 points. Lino Mark was right behind him with 16, while Jamicheal Davis added 11 more. Darren Buchanan Jr. led the way in terms of rebounds, as he grabbed a total of 13 for the Knights.
Ivan Juric led the way for Penn State in terms of points with 16, while Josh Reed scored 12 points and picked up 8 rebounds.
With Northwestern’s loss yesterday, Rutgers secured a first-round bye in the Big Ten tournament. The 14th-seeded Knights are set for a matchup with 11th seed Minnesota on Wednesday, which will take place 25 minutes after the 6:30 game concludes.
