No. 15 Iowa 82, Penn State 70: Melsahn Basabe recorded 16 points and eight rebounds to lead a balanced effort as the visiting Hawkeyes pulled away in the second half to defeat the Nittany Lions.

Roy Devyn Marble had 13 of his 15 points and Aaron White had 12 of his 14 in the second half for Iowa (19-6, 8-4 Big Ten), which made 31-of-40 free throws. Mike Gesell added 13 points and seven assists as the Hawkeyes won back-to-back games for the first time since Jan. 12 and 19.

D.J. Newbill registered 22 points for Penn State (13-13, 4-9), which was 1-of-12 from the field during the first nine minutes of the second half after leading by two at halftime. Second-leading scorer Tim Frazier had 11 points but made only 4-of-17 from the field, and John Johnson added 11 for the Nittany Lions.

The Nittany Lions led 44-42 in the second half before Iowa scored 16 of the next 20 – seven by Marble – for a 10-point lead with just under seven minutes left. Penn State trimmed its deficit to 60-55 before Gesell’s 3-pointer highlighted an 8-0 run that gave Iowa the cushion it needed to seal the contest.

Basabe scored 12 points in the opening half, including a basket that put the Hawkeyes up 29-21 with a little more than five minutes left. Penn State answered by scoring 12 of the final 14 points – six by Newbill – and held Iowa to 35.3 percent shooting to take 33-31 edge at intermission.

GAME NOTEBOOK: The Hawkeyes made 7-of-19 from 3-point range and held Penn State to 3-of-16 from behind the arc. … Frazier registered four assists to tie former Iowa G Jeff Horner for ninth on the Big Ten’s all-time list at 612. … Iowa, which is 8-0 in afternoon games this season, leads the all-time series 26-13 and has won six of the last eight meetings.