CHICAGO — As No. 15-seeded Northwestern has started as many as three freshmen per game, senior forward Nick Martinelli has typically been the driving force behind the team’s surges and collapses.

But as the Wildcats (14-18, 5-15 Big Ten) nursed an advantage for much of the second half in Tuesday’s 76-66 win over No. 18-seeded Penn State to open their Big Ten Tournament campaign, they didn’t need his heroics this time. 

He was in good hands with his supporting cast.

Senior guard Justin Mullins, who had shot just under 31% from beyond the arc during the regular season, hit a pair of critical mid-second-half 3-pointers to keep the Nittany Lions (12-20, 3-17 Big Ten) at arm’s length. Meanwhile, freshman forward Tre Singleton scored 4-for-5 buckets for eight second-half points.

Others, namely freshman forward Tyler Kropp and junior guard Jordan Clayton, stepped up by fighting on the glass, deflecting passes and providing the little victories. 

“Coming off the bench, (they) gave big contributions,” Collins said. “And (they did) in a lot of different areas, not just scoring, but energy.”

Martinelli, on a 24-point and nine-rebound night, helped set the ’Cats up with a 49-43 lead early in the second half, but he only needed to score four points the rest of the way as his supporting cast helped cruise the team to victory. 

Martinelli punctuated the victory anyway with a fastbreak slam to take a commanding 68-55 lead.

Closing games hadn’t been NU’s forte this regular season, as they ranked among the worst 20 teams in Ken Pom’s “luck” rating, which measures a team’s results compared to their performance statistics. But they had no trouble as they beat the conference’s bottom-feeder Nittany Lions in front of a sparse United Center crowd.

When Martinelli couldn’t deliver a heroic moment in the season-closing 67-66 loss to Minnesota, the ’Cats fell. When he only scored four points against then-No. 5 Illinois in February, it was a 40-point blowout loss.

But on Tuesday, when NU only led by two points at halftime as the teams traded punches early, Martinelli could take a backseat. 

The ’Cats came together to force 10 second-half turnovers as they outscored Penn State by eight points. Junior guard Jayden Reid also contributed with 14 points and nine assists on the night. 

In the absence of junior center Arrinten Page, who was out for the contest after also missing the end-of-season Minnesota loss due to “illness,” Penn State center Ivan Jurić scored 12 of Penn State’s first 16 points. But he only scored 10 points the rest of the way as NU bunkered in.

“They did a great job,” Martinelli said of the supporting cast. “We had a ton of guys step up today.”

It wasn’t the same ’Cats team that put up almost 100 points in a 94-73 January victory against the Nittany Lions. That day, Martinelli had 34 points, Singleton had 18 rebounds and freshman guard Jake West had 13 assists. 

But coming into the Big Ten Tournament on a potentially demoralizing two-game losing streak, Collins said NU played with urgency to extend its season.

It’ll have a quick turnaround with No. 10-seeded Indiana awaiting them Wednesday. But Collins is embracing the challenge. 

“I’m in the fire,” Collins said. “I’m in the fight … I’m thinking about, ‘How can we beat Indiana,’” Collins said. 

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