CHICAGO — One day after Joe Crispin knocked off No. 3 Michigan State with a leaning three-point shot and advanced Penn State to the semi-finals of the Big Ten Tournament, the Lions fell hard to Iowa.

Iowa's Reggie Evans dominated the Nittany Lions on the boards and pushed the Hawkeyes to the Big Ten Championship game against Indiana with a 94-74 win.

With the strong perimeter shooting from the Lions guards and solid play inside by Gyasi Cline-Heard, the Lions' Cinderella run was stopped before it even got started as the Hawkeyes opened with a 24-9 run.

For the second time in as many years, Penn State was able to make some noise by getting to the semifinals but were unable to advance into Sunday's championship game.

The Lions never could get anything going offensively or defensively. Evans, who had 11 points and 14 rebounds in the first half, single-handedly out-rebounded the Lions.

"He played great for us inside and they (Penn State) had a hard time stopping him," Iowa head coach Steve Alford said. "Reggie gave us what we needed early. He is so strong for us inside and grabbed everything that came near him."

Evans' presence inside did not allow Penn State to grab a rebound until nine minutes left in the first half. By then, the Lions were in a hole that seemed to be getting deeper with every Iowa possession.

At the end of the half, the Lions trailed 49-33 and the only players that seemed to be doing anything for Penn State were Joe Crispin and Cline-Heard, who combined for 24 of the Lions' 33 first half points.

While the Lions shot a dismal 34 percent from the floor, Iowa played as if they could not miss, having seven players score and shooting more than 60 percent from the field.

"I don't think we were focused when came in to play today," Crispin said. "We were not as motivated as we were yesterday and never really got into the flow of the game. We can't have this anymore and we know what we have to do to get back and start playing like a team again."

The Hawkeye's dominance continued with Evans fueling Iowa's arsenal and with 3:29 left he grabbed his 17th rebound of the game, setting a single game Big Ten tournament record in the process. Evans finished with 18 boards, matching the same number Penn State had as a team and finished with 30 points, just three points shy of another single game record set by Purdue's Brian Cardinal two years ago.

"Obviously he is a great rebounder," Penn State head coach Jerry Dunn said. "He was knocking down everything that came his way."

Despite the loss to Iowa, they proved they were a team that can not be taken lightly as they enter Friday's first round NCAA game as the No. 7 seed taking on No. 10 Providence.