Senior guard Tre Demps scored 19 of his 23 points in the first half to help Northwestern produce a 71-61 victory over Penn State on Thursday in Big Ten action at State College, Pa.

Sophomore point guard Bryant McIntosh added 17 points for the Wildcats (19-11, 7-10 Big Ten). Freshman forward Aaron Falzon had nine points on three 3-pointers to help Northwestern make ninr of 19 attempts from behind the arc.

Senior forward Brandon Taylor scored 17 points for the Nittany Lions (15-15, 6-11). Sophomore guard Shep Garner added 13 points and seven assists for Penn State, which dropped to 10-4 at home.

The Nittany Lions trailed by 15 points midway through the second half before rallying to make it a game. Freshman guard Isaiah Washington and sophomore forward Payton Banks knocked down 3-pointers during a 10-0 surge that pulled Penn State within 53-48 with 8:36 left.

Garner made two free throws to cut the deficit to four before Northwestern used a 9-2 spurt to stretch its lead to 64-53 with 3:06 to go. The Wildcats pushed the lead to 13 in the final minute while closing it out to move one victory away from their third-ever 20-win campaign.

Penn State was within 28-24 after a layup by Washington with 5:17 left in the first half but went nearly 10 minutes without a field goal. The Wildcats answered with a 12-1 burst to open up a 15-point lead, and McIntosh capped his team's 63 percent shooting first half by hitting an off-balance 17-foot runner at the buzzer for a 42-27 lead at the break.

Northwestern scored the first five points of the second half with McIntosh's steal and dunk increasing the margin to 20 points. The Nittany Lions ended their field-goal drought when Banks drained a 3-pointer with 15:27 left to start an 11-3 run that cut the Wildcats' lead to 12.