STATE COLLEGE — Lamar Stevens scored 16 of his 29 points in the first half, and Penn State pulled away from Nebraska, 95-71, on Tuesday.
Rasir Bolton scored 21, and Mike Watkins and Josh Reaves added 10 apiece for the Nittany Lions (10-16, 3-12 Big Ten), who have won three of their last five. Reaves scored his 1,000th career point.
James Palmer Jr. led Nebraska (15-12, 5-11) with 24 points. Isaiah Roby added 17, and Thomas Allen scored 11 for the Cornhuskers, who had their two-game winning streak snapped.
Penn State took the lead for good on Stevens’ first 3-pointer just 2 minutes, 36 seconds into the game. He later made three straight baskets to help fuel a 27-15 run that gave Penn State a 44-25 halftime lead.
The Nittany Lions never looked back in their highest-scoring game of the season.
Myles Dread drained a 3-pointer and Stevens added a 3-point play to spark a 20-14 run for a 64-39 Penn State lead with 13:19 left, and the Nittany Lions led by as many as 29 from there.
The Cornhuskers looked like they were on the way to recovering from a seven-game slide that all but erased a promising 13-4 start to the season. But they were sluggish in this one and let the worst-shooting team in the Big Ten make 50 percent of its first-half shots and 55 percent overall.
It’s been a forgettable season for Penn State, which statistically rank at or near the bottom of nearly every conference shooting category. The Nittany Lions played their best game in this one and will try to win a second straight game for just the second time this season.
