Penn State buckles, gives up 14-point halftime lead in loss to Minnesota

UNIVERSITY PARK — Dawson Garcia scored 20 points, Cam Christie added 17 and Minnesota rallied from a 14-point halftime deficit and beat Penn State, 83-74, on Saturday night to snap a four-game losing streak.

It was tied 70-70with 2 minutes, 50 seconds remaining before five Golden Gophers scored in a 13-4 run to end it.

Garcia and Christie combined for 18 points in the second half and finished 14-of-24 shooting overall and 9 of 10 from the free-throw line. Minnesota shot 59% (17 of 29) from the floor and made 15 of 16 free throws in the second half.

Joshua Ola-Joseph added 14 points for Minnesota (13-7, 4-5 Big Ten), which ended a three-game losing streak to the Nittany Lions and won for the first time at Penn State since 2018.

Ace Baldwin Jr. scored 16 points and Qudus Wahab added 15 to lead Penn State (9-11, 3-6 Big Ten). Kanye Clary and Nick Kern Jr. chipped in 11 points apiece.

Minnesota outscored Penn State, 18-3, in the first four minutes of the second half to cut its deficit to 49-48 before Ola-Joseph’s dunk tied it 52-52 with 14:08 to play. Minnesota then pulled ahead with a 16-9 spurt for a 68-61 advantage with 6:16 left.

Baldwin hit a 3-pointer, Clary added a layup and Zach Hicks scored four points during a 9-2 surge that knotted the score at 70.

Kern, Baldwin and Wahab combined for 30 first-half points to help Penn State build a 45-31 lead at the break. The Nittany Lions shot 53% in the first half but just 36% and missed 7 of 8 from long range in the second.

Minnesota hosts Northwestern on Saturday.

Penn State, which has lost four of its last five games, plays Wednesday at Rutgers.