Nick Martinelli’s 34 points propel Northwestern past Penn State

Nick Martinelli tied his career high with 34 points as Northwestern ran away from Penn State in the second half as the Wildcats took down the Nittany Lions 94-73 on Thursday night in Evanston, Ill.

Martinelli, the fourth-leading scorer in the country, led Northwestern (10-11, 2-8 Big Ten) once again on 13 of 19 shooting overall and 4 of 7 from behind the arc. Tre Singleton chipped in 17 points and a career-high 18 rebounds to go along with two blocks.

Angelo Ciaravino dropped 20 points off the bench and Jake West dished out 13 assists.

Penn State (9-12, 0-10) remains winless in conference play. Kayden Mingo led the way with 15 points and Ivan Juric dropped 14 while Josh Reed and Freddie Dilione V each had 11.

Northwestern set a season high with 12 made treys and only missed 10 (54.5%).

The Wildcats started to impose their dominance in the second half as part of a 11-3 run to increase the lead to double digits for the first time. Martinelli continued his onslaught with another 3 and a pull-up jumper to bring Northwestern's lead to 60-47 with 14:37 to play.

Penn State quickly answered with a swift 8-0 run after a dunk from Juric to cut the lead back to 60-55 with 12:01 left.

But once again the Wildcats anchored down to extend their lead, this time with a 14-2 run. Martinelli scored 10 of the points during the run and Northwestern blew the game open to 81-63 with 4:56 left.

It was a back-and-forth first half that featured eight lead changes, and the teams were deadlocked seven times.

Singleton made a nifty fast break layup to give the Wildcats a 37-30 lead with 5:02 to play.

Juric responded with a personal seven-point run, which he capped with an and-one layup, to pull Penn State closer at 41-40 with 2:21 left in the half.

Martinelli closed his 15-point first half with a strong layup as Northwestern went into the break up 45-40.

Both teams shot lights out in the first half. Northwestern was 19 of 33 (57.6%) from the field in the first half while Penn State was 13 of 28 from the field (46.4%). The Wildcats also were hot to start from 3-point range, shooting 7-for-14 (50%).

The Wildcats had 30 assists on 38 made baskets for the game.