BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Ace Baldwin Jr. scored 22 points, Zach Hicks had 19 and Penn State stunned Indiana, 85-71, on Saturday for the Nittany Lions’ first win at Assembly Hall in almost 10 years.
Penn State (10-11, 5-6 Big Ten) hadn’t beaten Indiana in Bloomington since a 66-65 win Feb. 12, 2014. The Nittany Lions now have won two straight road games, both of which were accomplished without leading scorer Kanye Clary, who is out with a facial injury.
Indiana was without senior point guard Xavier Johnson, a transfer from Pitt, because of an elbow injury.
Qudus Wahab scored 14 points, shooting 7 for 8, and reserve Jameel Brown scored 14 for Penn State. D’Marco Dunn added 10. Penn State was 12 for 22 (54.5%) from 3.
Kel’el Ware scored 17 of his 25 points in the first half for the Hoosiers (13-9, 5-6). Malik Reneau added 16 points, MacKenzie Mgbako 13 and Trey Galloway 12.
Baldwin gave Penn State its first lead of the game with a 3-pointer that made it 45-43 just a little more than three minutes into the second half as the Nittany Lions started the half with an 8-2 run.
The Nittany Lions outscored Indiana, 25-10, in the first 10 minutes out of intermission and stayed in control the rest of the way.
Ware had a perfect shooting first half, making 6 of 6 from the field and 4 of 4 from the foul line. The Hoosiers led for all the first half and built a 34-23 lead on Ware’s three-point play with 5:15 remaining before halftime.
Penn State got back in it when Brown made two 3s in a three-possession sequence, and Puff Johnson followed with a layup to reduce the deficit to 34-31. Indiana led 41-37 at halftime.
Penn State hosts Iowa on Thursday.
