There aren’t many moments in sports better than a senior night, especially for the ones being celebrated.

It’s a time of unexplainable emotions, reminiscence and an overall feeling of gratitude — one that Welsh-Ryan Arena experienced Wednesday night. From the first student manager to senior guard Boo Buie’s group of loved ones walking to center court, the atmosphere was drenched in purple and white as everyone soaked up the tear-jerking occasion.

Not to mention, it was another anniversary engraved in Northwestern’s basketball program. Six years ago, forward Nathan Taphorn’s full-court pass fell in the hands of center Dererk Pardon, who quickly turned to make the layup that stunned Michigan at the buzzer. Not only did it result in a court storm, but it arguably solidified the Wildcats’ ticket to making its first NCAA Tournament. 

Yet, even with the anniversary, the arena’s electricity and white balloons given throughout student sections, NU’s (20-10, 11-8 Big Ten) weren’t able to secure the most important cherry on top, losing to Penn State (18-12, 9-10 Big Ten) in heartbreaking overtime fashion, 68-65.

A rebound away from a second overtime and possibly a win, the Cats dropped their home season finale and third straight loss to end the regular season. A true gut-wrenching blow, to say the least.

“They made one more shot at the end of the day,” coach Chris Collins said. “I’m heartbroken. I wanted to send (the seniors) off in a big win tonight, you know, but that happens, you got to go out and win the game.”

A conference matchup late in the season can only guarantee one thing — a head banging contest where no win will come easy. With both teams in superb fighting trim, both squads knew each other’s habits, schemes and key players like the back of their hands. 

And that’s exactly what the cat dragged in during the first half: a slugfest.

With the pregame momentum, NU’s defense swarmed the Nittany Lions like no other. Penn State’s guard Seth Lundy picked up his squad’s first two buckets — driving baseline for a right-handed jam and a contested bank-in three. However, the Cats’ hard-hedging defense went into lockdown mode from there, terrorizing Penn State’s offense for the rest of the half. 

After scoring those five points in the game’s first three minutes, Lundy couldn’t score for the next 14 minutes of play — a foreshadow of what was to come later in the contest. Penn State wouldn’t score for nearly the next five minutes. And after a singular bucket following NU’s miscommunication, it didn’t score again for another five-minute bunch.

“Nobody’s really hard-hedged us all season,” Nittany Lions’ coach Micah Shrewsberry said. “They’re aggressive, they get in passing lanes, they deny some things, they rotate really well and it took us a while to adjust to that.”

Entering the contest, Penn State led the country in lowest number of turnovers per game (8.6). By the break, the Cats had cracked the code. They forced nine turnovers in the 20-minute span, limiting Penn State to 23.1% from deep and only 24 points. NU’s defensive clamps were activated. 

Although the defense caused the Nittany Lions problems like no other, Collins’ offense had bigger fish to fry, struggling to find the bottom of the basketball as well. With the help of six threes, NU’s tough luck inside the arc wasn’t the end of the world, but it was a problem. Out of the team’s 10 makes on 31 shots, six came from behind the arc.

Instead of being up big after a successful defensive half, the Cats were only up by four, leading 28-24.

“Give them credit they hung in there,” Collins said. “When we were defending really well, we were up I think 17-7, you know, I felt we left some points on the table.”

The slow-rolling matchup quickly picked up in the second half, as both groups began to wake up on the offensive end and send back and forth shots at one another. 

This was true to an extent for NU, redeeming itself for a lackluster shooting performance in the first half, shooting nearly identical from the field and from three — 43.3% from the field and 42.9% from deep. Twelve of Buie’s 20 points came in the second half of play, whereas sophomore guard Brooks Barnhizer’s 14 of 19 points led the way. This was his fourth straight game in double figures. 

Penn State stole the half, though, finally seeing the shots it couldn’t make in the first to drop in the second. A three-point heavy team, the Nittany Lions got exactly what they wanted, shooting eight for 13 from behind the arc and 58.3% from the field.

Collins emphasized the instrumental play of Penn State’s Jalen Pickett during the madness, who made it difficult for NU to pick between double teaming or guarding shooters at the same time. Pickett had eight assists in the half.

“They’ve done a really good job of surrounding him with elite shooting,” Collins said. “They spread those guys and their inside threat is Pickett, which is unique because he’s their point guard.”

To give perspective of the electric second half, if one team scored a bucket, the other scored on the exact next possession 12 times. Penn State’s Myles Dread did exactly that nearly halfway through the second half, hitting a top of the key three after Barnhizer’s size-up three on the right wing on the opposite end.

Dread’s triple cut NU’s lead back to one, and from there, the two teams were in a foot race until the final buzzer. Knotted at 61 with nearly 20 seconds left, junior guard Ty Berry’s possible game-winner ricocheted out, allowing the Nittany Lions one last roar.

After back-to-back timeouts, Camren Wynter lofted the inbound pass to Pickett near the rim, who eventually found a free Andrew Funk on the right wing. A pindrop could’ve been heard due to the arena’s silence as the shot was in the air. Luckily, it amounted to nothing but an in-and-out miss. 

Welsh-Ryan Arena let out a sigh of relief. Onto overtime.

“We did a really good job in the first half guarding them, you know, running them off the line,” Buie said. “In the second half, I don’t think we came out with the same focus as far as guarding the three point line.”

The victor of the fight wasn’t determined until the last few moments of the period.

With a minute and a half to go, Evan Mahaffey’s miss and made free throws tied the game at 65, and it stayed that way until the game’s final possession.

After Barnhizer’s fadeaway miss, Pickett missed his stepback jumper over Buie as the ball bounced off the back iron to the right. The first player to get there, though, was Mahaffey, who swung it out to Funk at the top of the key, then to Wynter in the corner for the winning shot. Not even a cricket was heard in the arena, as Buie’s 0.7-second heave from the right hash was no good.

The Cats will look to their regular season finale Sunday versus Rutgers as a chance of returning to the win column, hoping to secure their twelfth conference win of the season.

“We just have to stay resilient, keep fighting, keep playing,” Collins said. “You can say we’ve lost three in a row, or you can say you’ve won five out of eight.”

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