A coach must deal with certain things when he has a young team -- one of those is learning how to win.

The Penn State men's basketball team seems to have learned how to win, at home anyway, with consecutive home victories over two ranked opponents. Coming off their most recent win over No. 7 Purdue, the Nittany Lions sought to keep the momentum going on the road at Northwestern Saturday night.

Against Purdue, the Lions had to rally from behind to overcome a five-point deficit late in the game to win. Against the Wildcats (9-7 overall, 0-7 in the Big Ten) the shoe was on the other foot, as Penn State (10-6, 3-4) had to stave off a furious last-minute comeback by Northwestern.

The 80-75 win, in front of 7,839 people at Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston, Ill., was Penn State's second consecutive conference win, and it's first conference road win of the season.

"I think it's something we needed," backup center Michael Joseph said of the team's victory away from Rec Hall. "Last year it took awhile. This year, to get one so early is a sign of better things to come."

John Amaechi led the Lions with 21 points and 11 rebounds, before fouling out with under a minute to go. The tandem of Greg Bartram and Rahsaan Carlton also chipped in with 13 apiece. The other Lion in double figures was shooting guard Michael Jennings with 10.

In the game's closing minutes, the Lions withstood a barrage of three-pointers from various Wildcat shooters, and sunk enough free throws and key shots down the stretch to pull off the victory.

"Just like you've got to learn how to come from behind," Penn State Coach Bruce Parkhill said in a postgame radio interview, "you've got to learn how to protect the lead."

Although the Lions could have iced the game from the free-throw line in the game's final minute, Parkhill was proud of how his team weathered the storm.

"We had some nice individual plays," Parkhill said. "We had some guys make some shots to kind of stick their finger in the dam."

Northwestern had three starters in double figures, led by Kevin Rankin's 27, but were done in by 19 turnovers, and a pathetic 28 percent shooting from the field in the first half. Patrick Baldwin had 18 to go along with Todd Leslie's 14 points.

The Lions matchup-zone defense held the Wildcats in check for the entire first half, as Northwestern managed only five field goals, and Penn State went into the locker room up 37-21 at halftime.

Notes:

-- Penn State's Carlton seems to have a liking for Northwestern's Welsh-Ryan Arena. In two trips to Evanston, including last year, the sophomore has scored a combined 28 points.

-- The Lions shot 67 percent, 8 of 12, from the three-point line. Bartram led the charge hitting all three trifectas which he attempted.

-- Penn State did an outstanding job on defense against Wildcat starting-forward Cedric Neloms. Neloms had been averaging 19 points per game in his last three outings, but fouled out of Saturday's contest with zero.

-- Northwestern outscored Penn State in the second half 54-43.