UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State men’s basketball team shot 68 percent from the field in the second half, but couldn’t overcome a slow start in an 85-72 loss to Rutgers Wednesday night inside the Bryce Jordan Center.

Senior forward Josh Reed led the way offensively for the Blue & White with a career-high 22 points. Reed was an efficient 7-of-10 from the field and made all seven of his free throw attempts. He tacked on six boards and an assist to round out his performance. Freshman guard Kayden Mingo contributed 16 points, six assists and two rebounds while redshirt junior guard Freddie Dilione V rounded out the Nittany Lions in double figures with 11 points in addition to three rebounds and two assists.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Rutgers jumped out to an early 9-0 lead to force a Penn State timeout within the first few minutes of play. A foul line jumper from Kayden Mingo put the Nittany Lions on the board, but the Scarlet Knights held a 16-2 advantage at the under-12 media timeout.

Out of the break, Ivan Jurić utilized a pump fake on the block for an and-one. Josh Reed converted a turnaround jumper near the free throw line before a fastbreak layup by Freddie Dilone V brought the Rutgers lead to 10. Mingo took his defender to the baseline for a layup to cap off a 6-0 run that made the score 18-10 in favor of the Scarlet Knights at the 8:36 mark of the first half.

RU controlled the back end of the first half as it went into the locker room with a 39-20 advantage.

The Blue & White opened the second half on a hot streak led by Josh Reed who notched five points in the first three minutes. Layups from Mingo and Jurić, in addition to two free throws by Dominick Stewart, added to tally as Penn State did not miss by the time of the first media timeout at the 16:15 mark with a score of 46-31 in favor of Rutgers.

Melih Tunca scored seven of Penn State’s points off two layups and a 3-pointer as part of an 11-3 run that ignited the BJC crowd as the Nittany Lions drew closer. Despite the run, the Scarlet Knights were able to keep the lead above double digits at 55-42 heading into the under-12 break.

PSU broke out to a 9-0 run powered by seven points by Mingo, including back-to-back and-ones, to bring the score to 67-56 with 6:56 to play. The Nittany Lions held Rutgers scoreless for over two minutes and forced four turnovers in that span.

Penn State converted six consecutive free throws with four of those by Stewart to stay within striking distance as the Scarlet Knights owned a 76-63 lead at the final media timeout.

A 3-pointer from Reed cut the RU advantage to just eight with under three minutes to go, but the Nittany Lions could not bring it any closer as Rutgers closed out the 85-72 win.

GAME NOTES

Penn State falls to 11-16 overall and 2-14 in Big Ten play, while Rutgers improves to 11-15 overall and 4-11 in conference action.

Senior Josh Reed scored a career-high 22 points, besting his previous career best of 19. He scored in double figures for the 11th-straight game and 17th time overall this season. Reed came to Penn State with just seven career double-digit scoring games in his three seasons at Cincinnati before coming to Happy Valley this season.

Redshirt junior Freddie Dilione V finished with 11 points, notching his 21st double-digit scoring effort of the season.

Freshman guard Kayden Mingo reached double figures for the 18th time this season, finishing with 16 points. Mingo tallied six assists to lead the Nittany Lions in that category.

UP NEXT

The Nittany Lions are back on the road Saturday to face #9 Nebraska from Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Neb. Tipoff on Big Ten Network is slated for 2 p.m. ET/1 p.m. CT.