Penn State starts hot from deep, holds off No. 4 Iowa for upset

— The fans inside the Bryce Jordan Center rose to their feet as the clock ticked under two minutes.

Penn State held a five-point lead against No. 4 Iowa, and Isaiah Washington had just come away with a steal to set up a Nittany Lions possession. The fans stayed on their feet while Penn State settled into its offense. They erupted when Brandon Taylor hit a short jumper in the paint after a missed 3 fell right into his hands.

And they stayed on their feet when Iowa came down the floor and chanted with Hawkeyes forward Jarrod Uthoff at the free-throw line.

Eighty-five seconds later, the Nittany Lions completed the upset, beating Iowa 79-75 on Wednesday night. Penn State’s students rushed the court and surrounded senior forward Donovon Jack during an interview with Big Ten Network, celebrating the program’s first win over a top-5 opponent since beating No. 4 Michigan in 2013.

“It’s a big win for us,” said Jack, who paced Penn State with a career-high 19 points on 8 for 9 shooting. “Now we just have to keep riding it, get the momentum going for us.”

Shep Garner and Taylor each added 18 points for the Nittany Lions (13-13, 4-9), while Washington finished with nine points and five rebounds in a season-high 26 minutes and Payton Banks had eight points and four rebounds.

Peter Jok scored 28 points to lead Iowa (20-6, 11-3), which came into the game in first place in the Big Ten. The Hawkeyes shot 41.2 percent from the field.

It was the team’s second straight win over a ranked opponent at home, and it came two weeks after falling to Iowa 73-49 on the road.

In that game, Penn State went 1 for 20 from beyond the arc.

On Wednesday, the Nittany Lions matched a season-high with 10 3-pointers, a product of crisp ball movement.

“We started moving the ball a little bit more,” Penn State coach Patrick Chambers said. “We started getting more open shots. Guys were down, ready to make those shots.”

Penn State took control behind their hot shooting night from long range after a cold start.

Iowa jumped out to an 8-0 lead as Penn State started 0 for 5 from the field and 0 for 2 from the foul line.

Jack got the Nittany Lions on the board with a finish inside with 15:22 left in the half. Garner knocked down 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to get the Penn State offense rolling. The guard did it again later in the half, this time pulling his team within 25-21 with more than seven minutes to play.

A 3-pointer fittingly gave the Nittany Lions their first lead.

Washington was left wide open in the right corner and drilled it off a cross-court pass out of the post by Taylor to give Penn State a 26-25 lead. Banks and Taylor knocked down 3s on back-to-back possessions to push the Nittany Lions ahead 34-27 with more than three minutes left in the half.

Penn State took a 38-31 lead into halftime after Garner found Jack for a dunk in the final seconds.

Jack said the team didn’t focus on its advantage during the break.

“We know that we’ve started halfs slow,” Jack said. “That’s kind of hurt us in the past, so we were more focused on, ‘Alright, that 20 minutes is done. Forget that. Now focus on the next 20 minutes.’”

The Nittany Lions built their lead after going 7 for 14 from beyond the arc in the first half.

“They moved the ball, they shot it with confidence and executed, I thought, well,” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said. “But that’s going to open everything up.”

And Jack capitalized inside.

The senior scored 10 points in the second half, helping the Nittany Lions maintain their lead the rest of the way.

He got a layup to fall through a foul — even after losing control of it on the way to the rim — that sent him to the floor.

“I didn’t know it went in,” Jack said.

That gave Penn State a 57-51 lead with 8:10 to play.

The Hawkeyes pulled within two twice in the final seven minutes, but the Nittany Lions held them off.

When Iowa cut the deficit to two with less than five minutes to play, Washington drove to the rim and drew a foul. He sank both free throws to give his team a 61-57 lead. He attacked the rim again on the next possession, drawing another foul and hitting two more free throws.

“I’m also going to give a lot of credit to Isaiah Washington,” Chambers said. “He played fearless for a freshman. I know he had a couple turnovers, but I felt really good with him. He thanked me for keeping him in the game, which was hilarious.”

Washington went 6 for 6 from the free-throw line in the second half, part of a 16-for-19 performance by the team.

Washington and Jack combined to provide a boost off the bench as the Nittany Lions pulled the upset.

“Guys like Don and Isaiah, they stepped up today,” Taylor said. “We know they can do it. We’ve just been waiting for a game, and this is the perfect game to do it. We all know what we’re capable of doing.”

Notes: Devin Foster was not with the team Wednesday. The program announced before the game that Foster was in Ohio for the birth of his daughter Tuesday night. … Penn State beat then-No. 22 Indiana at home on Feb. 6. … The Nittany Lions return to action at Rutgers on Saturday.

This story was originally published February 17, 2016 at 8:46 PM with the headline "Penn State starts hot from deep, holds off No. 4 Iowa for upset."