Penn State Basketball Falls in Heartbreaker to Indiana, Likely Ending Season

Penn State basketball’s season likely ended Thursday night, barring a postseason bid that seems unlikley.

A shot by Anthony Leal with five seconds left gave Indiana a 61-59 lead, and ended up being the game winner when Puff Johnson’s 3 fell short.

Penn State got off to a rough start, missing 10 of its first 11 shots and trailing 10-2 with 14 minutes left.

Threes by D’Marco Dunn and Nick Kern cut the deficit to two. Dunn then tied the game with a shot off the glass.

Penn State trailed 13-10 at the under-12 media timeout.

Penn State trailed by just three with 2:21 left, a big part of this due to PSU making 10 of its first 11 free throws and Indiana not even getting to the line.

At halftime, Penn State trailed 32-27.

Penn State led by as many as six early in the second half, but trailed by one by U12 media timeout. It remained tight through to the next full timeout, with Indiana leading by one.

PSU withstood foul trouble and hung in there through the next media timeout, trailing 55-53.

With less than three minutes left, two free throws by Puff Johnson gave Penn State a 57-56 lead. But Indiana retook the lead with less than two minutes left. A runner by Ace Baldwin tied it at 59 with 1:24 left.

The next points were Leal’s winner.

Penn State ends coach Mike Rhoades’ first season 61-59.