Penn St. pulls an Ace to sink Indiana, downing Hoosiers at Assembly Hall for first time since '14

Updated Feb. 3, 2024 2:27 p.m. ET

Associated Press

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — Ace Baldwin Jr. scored 22 points and Zach Hicks scored 19 and Penn State stunned Indiana in an 85-71 win on Saturday for the Nittany Lions' first win at Assembly Hall in almost 10 years.

Penn State (10-11, 5-6 Big Ten) hadn't beaten Indiana in Bloomington since a 66-65 win on Feb. 12, 2014. The Nittany Lions now have won two-straight road games, both of which were accomplished without leading scorer Kanye Clary who is out with a facial injury.

Indiana was without senior point guard Xavier Johnson due to an elbow injury.

Qudus Wahab scored 14 points shooting 7 for 8 and reserve Jameel Brown scored 14 shooting 4 for 5 — all from 3-point range — for Penn State. D'Marco Dunn added 10. Penn State was 12 for 22 (54.5%) from 3.

Kel’el Ware scored 17 of his 25 points in the first half for the Hoosiers. Malik Reneau added 16 points, MacKenzie Mgbako 13 and Trey Galloway 12 for the Hoosiers.

Baldwin gave Penn State its first lead of the game with a 3-pointer that made it 45-43 just a little more than three minutes into the second half as the Nittany Lions started the half with an 8-2 run.

The Nittany Lions outscored Indiana 25-10 in the first 10 minutes out of intermission and stayed in control the remainder.

Ware had a perfect shooting first half making 6 of 6 and 4 of 4 from the foul line. The Hoosiers (13-9, 5-6) led for all the first half and built a 34-23 lead on Ware's three-point play with 5:15 remaining before halftime.

Penn State got back in it when Brown made two 3s in a three-possession sequence and Puff Johnson followed with a layup to reduce the deficit to 34-31. Indiana led 41-37 at halftime.

Penn State hosts Iowa on Thursday. Indiana travels to Ohio State on Tuesday.

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