It seemed like nothing could stop Evan Seacat in the second half. With 9:42 to go, the senior’s sixth 3-pointer in eight minutes had cut a 16-point deficit down to six, as Northwestern trailed Penn State 49-43.
But sophomore guard Mike Walker came off the bench for the Nittany Lions to score nine straight points of his own. The Wildcats would never get so close again, as Penn State (14-12, 6-9 Big Ten) knocked off NU at the Bryce Jordan Center on Saturday, 68-55.
“I was finally able to knock some shots down today and kind of got in a groove,” Seacat said. “I hadn’t been able to do that so far this year, but it still wasn’t enough. Even the shots weren’t that big of a deal, we still needed to play better as a team and better defensively and offensively.”
After the Cats got within six, the Lions’ went on an 18-5 run. Their lead shot back up to 19, the second double-digit deficit the Cats faced in the second half.
“I think a lot of guys just didn’t have enough energy to fight back,” senior Vedran Vukusic said. “They had come from behind the whole game so it was a little tough.”
Seacat’s 18 points, a career high, led the Cats (13-13, 5-9), who struggled to score against the Nittany Lions’ 2-3 zone. Vukusic was the only other player to finish in double figures, finishing with 15 points, five points below his conference-leading average.
Penn State’s defense forced 16 turnovers, as NU was unable to move the ball inside – the Cats took 31 shots from behind the arc, tying their season high.
The Cats were unable to create the same pressure on defense.
“They didn’t turn the ball over against the 1-3-1,” NU coach Bill Carmody said. “Early in the game we were scoring, but they were scoring too. We need to force them to turn the ball over.”
NU’s inability to create a presence in the paint resulted in three free throw attempts – the Cats missed all of them – while Penn State went to the line 26 times, making 20.
“We haven’t gotten production from our centers all year long,” Carmody said. “Whether it’s Bernard (Cote) or Vince (Scott), and when we have it’s good. But that position hasn’t given us any offense all year, so it’s something that we’ve come to expect. But they were the more aggressive team, and it showed at the foul line.”
Scott’s line was particularly unimpressive, as he finished with no points, three personal fouls and a turnover in 14 minutes. Two of Scott’s fouls came in a nine-second span after Seacat had cut the lead to six, stunting NU’s last charge at Penn State.
Vukusic hit three 3-pointers in the first half, making him NU’s career leader with 206. He had entered the game tied with Todd Leslie for the all-time mark. His 15 points also moved him past Cedric Neloms into fifth place on the Cats’ all-time scoring list with 1,543 points.
Still, the individual accolades for Vukusic and Seacat have done little to heal the wounds of a team that got out-played for the second time against Penn State. The Nittany Lions won the teams’ first meeting in Evanston, 65-61.
“This is clearly a really disappointing loss,” Vukusic said. “We played well against Illinois, Ohio State and Wisconsin, and it paid off against Wisconsin. It’s a really big step back from what we did in the last couple of weeks.”
Reach David Kalan at [email protected].
