Iowa holds off Penn State rally

Dean Oliver scored 17 points and Iowa overcame the hot shooting of Joe Crispin to defeat Penn State 84-74 yesterday, halting a three-game losing streak.

In a 72-52 loss to Wisconsin last Saturday, Iowa allowed Jon Bryant to get loose and he responded with six 3-pointers while scoring a career-best 22 points.

Yesterday, Crispin was almost the hero for the Nittany Lions as he scored 19 of his 27 points in the second half as Penn State gave Iowa all it could handle.

"Crispin was tough. He looks like he's coming into his own. He's a real sharp player," Iowa guard Ryan Luehrsmann said.

Crispin said he is playing instinctively now instead of trying to think too much.

"You've just got to go out and play the game. You get an open look, you take it," he said. "I don't try to think about it too much."

Iowa jumped out to an early 19-6 lead and built a 15-point advantage in the second half but couldn't put the Nittany Lions away.

"You'd like to be able to put them away, but I think you have to give Penn State credit for that. I think we learned a lot," Iowa coach Tom Davis said. "Penn State is a very good ball club. Their only problem is their schedule, who they've played and where they've played them."

Penn State coach Jerry Dunn said his team was too sloppy to steal a road win.

"We didn't take care of the ball," he said. "They made us make some poor decisions and they got some easy baskets from it."

Jess Settles added 12 points, J.R. Koch finished with 11 and Luehrsmann had 10 for the Hawkeyes (14-4, 5-3 Big Ten).

Iowa had a 37-34 halftime edge and then withstood the hot shooting of Crispin, who scored a career-high 30 points against Illinois last Saturday.

Dan Earl scored 18 points and Calvin Booth had 15 points and five blocked shots for the Nittany Lions (10-8, 2-6), who have lost five of their last six games. Matt Hankins scored 13 points and had eight assists for Penn State.

Oliver scored four points in an 8-3 run to start the second half that extended Iowa's lead to 45-37. But Penn State answered with a 9-0 run, capped by Crispin's 3-poi, to take its first lead at 46-45 with 15:06 remaining.

Neither team gained more than a four-point edge over the next four minutes. Crispin kept the Nittany Lions in the game with two fallaway jumpers and finished with five 3-pointers in 11 attempts.

A 3-pointer by Earl pulled Penn State to within 54-53 at the 11:22 mark, but Koch's reverse layup with 10:59 remaining ignited a 15-1 run, capped by Settles' free throw, that gave Iowa a 69-54 lead with 7:02 to play. Koch had six points during the spree.

Crispin scored eight of his team's final 15 points, including a 3-pointer with 1:11 remaining that brought Penn State within 74-68.

But Luehrsmann hit a free throw, Oliver scored off a steal and the Hawkeyes hit five of six free throws to hold on.

01-28-99