Penn State routed in first round; Michigan advances to face Ohio St.


March 12, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS

Devoe Joseph scored 15 points to help Minnesota beat Penn State 76-55 on Thursday night in the first round of the Big Ten tournament.

Colton Iverson scored 12 points, Damian Johnson scored 11 and Lawrence Westbrook added 10 for the Golden Gophers (19-12), who advanced to play No. 11 Michigan State on Friday in a quarterfinal. Michigan State won both regular-season games against Minnesota by a combined eight points.

The sixth-seeded Golden Gophers have won five of their last seven, including a victory over now-No. 13 Wisconsin. A win over Michigan State would strengthen Minnesota’s case for an NCAA tournament bid.

Talor Battle, Chris Babb, Andrew Jones and David Jackson each scored 10 points for Penn State (11-20), the tournament’s 11th seed. Battle, a second-team all-conference pick, was held to 3-for-10 shooting.

Michigan 59, Iowa 52

Manny Harris had 22 points and nine rebounds, and DeShawn Sims added 14 points for the Wolverines (15-16), who advanced to play No. 5 Ohio State today in the quarterfinals.

Iowa freshman Cully Payne scored a season-high 25 points and made five 3-pointers for Iowa (10-22). He had scored a combined four points his previous two games. He was 9 for 16 from the field, but the rest of the team shot 13 for 40.

Aaron Fuller added 10 points and 13 rebounds for the Hawkeyes.

Michigan had lost four of its previous five games but won all three games against the Hawkeyes this season.

Iowa closed the season by losing six of seven.

Northwestern 73, Indiana 58

Northwestern’s Michael Thompson scored 11 of his 16 points during a late run and seventh-seeded Northwestern (20-12) clinched its first 20-win season in school history.

It was the Wildcats’ first conference tourney win since March 10, 2005.

Verdell Jones scored 20 points to lead Indiana (10-21), which lost 12 of its last 13 games. Indiana led for the first 32 minutes, but Thompson ignited a 20-5 run that turned a 45-39 Wildcats’ deficit into a 59-50 lead.