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Jalen Pickett leads resilient Penn State squad past Indiana in B1G Tournament semifinal

Andrew Olson

By Andrew Olson

Published:

Jalen Pickett led the way as No. 10 seed Penn State took down No. 3 seed Indiana in a 77-73 thriller to reach the Big Ten Tournament Championship Game.

Pickett led all scorers with 28 points, going 9-of-19 from the field and 9-of-10 at the free-throw line. He pointed to the Nittany Lions’ resiliency in winning another close contest.

“We came in here, we felt like it was another road game for us,” Pickett told CBS Sports’ Tracy Wolfson after the game. “We knew we had to play hard and we knew they were going to make a run because they want to be playing for a Big Ten championship. But we just fought back. We’re an older group, and we’re connected.”

Indiana made a late run, getting a 15-point deficit (72-57) down all the way to 1 point (74-73) with 33 seconds to go. In the end, the Nittany Lions held on to advance to the conference championship game.

Penn State had a big run of its own in the second half. It was a 47-47 game at the 10:23 mark. PSU went on a 23-8 run that made it 70-55 by the 2:24 mark.

Pickett and the Nittany Lions will look to be resilient again Sunday taking on No. 1 seed Purdue for the conference tournament title.

Andrew Olson

A former Florida beat reporter, Andrew writes for the Saturday Tradition News Desk.