Brevin Pritzl came off the bench to score 17 points, including the go-ahead layup with 4:01 left, as No. 19 Wisconsin rallied in the second half to subdue Penn State 61-57 in a Big Ten game Saturday in Madison, Wis.
Ethan Happ added 14 points, six rebounds, five assists and four steals for the Badgers (20-9, 12-6), who trailed by eight points early in the half before clamping down on the Nittany Lions (12-17, 5-13). The result kept alive Wisconsin's hopes of a double bye into the Big Ten tournament quarterfinals.
Lamar Stevens scored a game-high 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for Penn State, but he made only 5 of 19 shots from the field, including 1 of 9 in the second half. Josh Reaves contributed 14 points and nine boards.
The Nittany Lions failed on two chances to tie the game in the final 15 seconds.
Trailing 59-57, Rasir Bolton threw a bad entry pass to Stevens at the right elbow that Stevens knocked out of bounds with nine seconds left.
After Nate Reuvers hit a free throw with 8.2 seconds left to put the Badgers ahead by three, Bolton lost the ball out of bounds while trying to force up a 3-pointer under heavy pressure. Pritzl iced the game with a foul shot with 1.5 seconds remaining.
The first half was controlled by Penn State. The Nittany Lions, playing to the form that enabled them to rout No. 17 Maryland on Wednesday night, trailed for only 20 seconds in the first half.
Reaves' driving layup at the 15:07 mark staked Penn State to a 9-4 advantage, one it would keep for the half's remainder, even when Wisconsin would make little runs. Consecutive layups by Happ drew the Badgers within 23-20 with 5:09 left.
But the Nittany Lions pushed the lead as high as eight points before going into intermission with a 33-26 lead when Stevens canned a pair of free throws with two seconds remaining.
--Field Level Media
Penn St. | Wisconsin | |
Lamar Stevens 22 | Scoring | Brevin Pritzl 17 |
Jamari Wheeler 4 | Assists | Ethan Happ 5 |
Lamar Stevens 10 | Rebounds | Nate Reuvers 9 |
Lamar Stevens 11 | Free Throws Made | Brad Davison 4 |
Josh Reaves 1 | Steals | Ethan Happ 4 |
Lamar Stevens 3 | Blocks | Nate Reuvers 2 |