Free throws, the Nittany Lions’ Achilles heel for much of the season, sealed the deal down the stretch. Penn State didn’t make a field goal in the last 7:11 of the game and shot 24-for-35 from the free throw line in the second half, having gone into the game with a 59 percent average from the stripe.

Freshman guard Kalin Lucas had 18 points and seven assists for the Spartans, while junior guard Stanley Pringle led Penn State with 19, as one of four home team players with more than 10 points.

With junior center Goran Suton and sophomore forward Raymar Morgan, two of the Spartans’ leading scorers, on the bench for the final minutes, MSU coach Tom Izzo was forced to test the depth of his bench and the Spartans couldn’t muster enough scoring to pull it out.

“The thing about coaching is you can preach and you can talk about respecting everybody but as I tell players all the time, it’s the player’s game,” Izzo said. “The players play the game and I don’t know what’s inside their head. I thought we had a good practice and didn’t overlook Penn State.”

An unlikely offensive source in junior guard Travis Walton gave MSU five straight points with under six minutes to play in the first half, giving the Spartans a six point lead – their largest of the game. But consecutive 3-pointers from Penn State’s Talor Battle tied the score at 39-39.

Penn State came out of the break and upped their advantage to 53-43 at the 15:43 mark, thanks in part to back-to-back 3-point hits from Pringle. More than five minutes later, with 9:46 remaining, the Spartans finally regained the lead on a Lucas lay-up. He had seven points in the MSU effort to erase the 10-point deficit.

The teams exchanged baskets for much of the duration until Spartans foul trouble sent the Nittany Lions to the free throw line. The home team finished 34-for-51 from the charity stripe. MSU had three players foul out of the game and a total of 31 fouls.

The loss snaps the Spartans’ unbeaten streak against Penn State at nine games and gives Nittany Lions head coach Ed DeChellis his first victory against MSU.

“We’ve been trying and trying and it happened tonight for us,” DeChellis said. “Everybody that played for us scored, which is important.”

MSU continues play against Northwestern at 7 p.m. on Feb. 9 at Breslin Center, where the Spartans are undefeated this season.