Stefan Vaaks scored 15 points and nailed a pair of clutch 3-pointers to lift Providence to a 77-65 win over Penn State on Saturday in Uncasville, Conn.
Jason Edwards had 14 points and six rebounds, Jaylin Sellers scored 13 with four dunks and Oswin Erhunmwunse tallied 11 points, eight boards and four blocks for the Friars (4-2), who led the entire second half but needed Vaaks’ shots to stave off the Nittany Lions’ late push.
Penn State (5-1) came up short despite Freddie Dilione V’s career highs of 22 points and nine rebounds. Melih Tunca added 11 points for the Nittany Lions.
Penn State trailed by as many as 12, but pulled within 64-63 with 3:50 to go thanks to a 7-0 spurt powered by five points from Dilione.
Providence used a timeout after Tunca’s athletic dribble-handoff layup trimmed the margin to 68-65. Out of the timeout, Vaaks got open on the right wing for a 3-pointer to double that lead at the 1:58 mark.
But the killer came when Vaaks intercepted Josh Reed’s pass at the other end, pulled up and hit another trey — this time from the left side. That made it 74-65 with 1:35 to play.
In a first half with five ties and 12 lead changes, the only extended lead belonged to Penn State after Dilione hit a short jumper and a shot clock-beating 3-pointer on consecutive trips.
Dominick Stewart followed those with a bucket to give Penn State a 26-20 lead at the 7:52 mark, but that was Nittany Lions’ final field goal of the half. They missed their last seven attempts while committing three turnovers.
Providence went ahead 30-29 on Sellers’ fastbreak dunk with 3:17 to go. The team traded free throws from there, Edwards’ pair in the last three seconds giving the Friars a 32-31 lead.
Providence came out of the locker room on fire. Edwards drove the lane for a bucket, Sellers added a steal and dunk and Vaaks hit a transition trey — a 7-0 run in exactly one minute that prompted a Penn State timeout.
When Jamier Jones and Sellers threw down back-to-back alley-oop dunks for a 53-41 lead with 13:56 to go, the Friars looked to have all the momentum.
But a three-point play by Reed and consecutive triples from Tunca and Reed quickly whittled the Nittany Lions’ deficit to three and set up the exciting finish.
–Field Level Media
