Shoe on the other foot

Cagers get second Big Ten win

In Saturday's battle for sole possession of last place in the Big Ten, both Penn State and Northwestern fought valiantly to remain in the conference cellar.

"I thought it was two teams both struggling offensively," Northwestern coach Ricky Byrdsong said. "We could not find our offensive rhythm for any real portion of the game at all."

But the Nittany Lions (9-13, 2-11 Big Ten) didn't make it easy for Northwestern (6-19, 1-12) to get out of the Bryce Jordan Center with the loss.

Playing without forward Jarrett Stephens, who was out of the lineup because of the death of his aunt, Lion guard Pete Lisicky was saddled with most of the offensive responsibilities.

At the start of the second half, Penn State was ahead, 34-27, and Lisicky already had 18 points -- 15 as the result of 3-pointers.

Penn State, however, struggled mightily on the offensive end to open the second period. Following Lion center Calvin Booth's dunk with 19:01 left, Penn State went nearly 14 minutes before scoring another field goal.

In that span, Northwestern managed to tie the score at 40 with 12:11 to play. After knotting the score, though, the Wildcats had an offensive drought of their own.

Northwestern scored just two points in the next nine-and-a-half minutes, and by the time Wildcat forward Joe Branch scored with 2:40 to go, Northwestern was down, 51-42.

"I thought they did, to their credit, a tremendous job against Evan Eschmeyer," Byrdsong said. "I felt like we got the ball to him, but they did a good job of doubling and triple-teaming him. He couldn't pass out of the double-team to get open shots."

On the Penn State side, the first half was about perimeter offense, and the second half was about survival. The Lions, led by Lisicky's 5-for-6 performance, hit 75 percent of their attempts from beyond the 3-point arc in the first half.

As Lisicky goes, so does Penn State. The Lions' leading scorer was 0-for-4 from beyond the arc in the second half, and Penn State shot just 25 percent from 3-point range. Booth led Penn State in the second half with eight points.

Although Lisicky was cold in the second 20 minutes, he did go to the foul line with 53 seconds remaining and a chance to break the Penn State record for consecutive free throws made. Lisicky hit both attempts and broke the record of 32 shared by Jim Forjan and Craig Collins.

After the game, Lisicky was blasé about the feat.

"I knew it was some kind of record," he said. "I don't care, though, I just wanted to win."

Lisicky and the Lions were more concerned about the team's first win in their last seven tries. Penn State coach Jerry Dunn said the Lions were approaching their final six games as a mini-season -- a mini-season that could prove a lot about their character.

Following Saturday's win, Penn State is 1-0 in that mini-season.

"I think all of our games are winnable," Dunn said. "We set a six-game goal starting with today, and we're going to take it one at a time."