Tariq Francis scored 18 points, freshman Lino Mark put up 16 and Rutgers cruised to a 74-62 victory over Penn State to close the regular season on Sunday afternoon in Piscataway, N.J.
Rutgers (13-18, 6-14 Big Ten) used 12-0 and 16-0 runs in the first half to build plenty of cushion. The Scarlet Knights had 22 points on the fast break and their bench outscored Penn State’s 21-3.
Jamichael Davis tallied 11 points, four rebounds and four assists. Darren Buchanan Jr. tied a career high of 12 rebounds to go with eight points, and Chris Nwuli scored seven.
Freddie Dilione V and Ivan Juric each scored 16 points, Kayden Mingo had 13 and Josh Reed added 10 to pace Penn State (12-19, 3-17). All four players corralled seven rebounds apiece.
The game had no impact on the Big Ten tournament bracket. Rutgers is the 14th seed and will face No. 11 Minnesota in the second round Wednesday. Penn State brought up the rear and will play No. 15 Northwestern in Tuesday’s opening round.
The Nittany Lions led 10-8 in the early going after Dominick Stewart grabbed a steal near halfcourt and made a no-look pass over his shoulder to hit Mingo for a fastbreak bucket.
Francis answered with a 3-pointer to ignite the Scarlet Knights’ first run. Five different players scored in the 12-point spurt, capped by back-to-back full-court layups from Nwuli and Mark.
Penn State used a timeout to quell the tide, but soon after, Davis knocked down a three to kick off Rutgers’ 16-0 spree. It featured six points from Buchanan, including two dunks.
The Nittany Lions were scoreless for a stretch of 6:35 and committed five turnovers in that time.
Rutgers took a 43-21 lead into halftime and led by as many as 26, but Penn State rallied thanks to shooting 50% in the second half after a 33.3% effort in the first. Rutgers’ Emmanuel Ogbole made a two-handed dunk on his senior day, Nwuli added an athletic bucket and foul shot and Davis canned a jumper to restore a 20-point edge with 8:08 left.
Four free throws and a layup from Juric brought Penn State within 12 points on two occasions, but Francis’ 3-pointer at the end of the shot clock made it 72-57 with 1:46 left to ice it.
