Stevens leads Penn State over Alabama 73-71

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — Lamar Stevens scored 13 of his 18 points in the second half and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead Penn State to a 73-71 win over Alabama on Saturday.

Curtis Jones scored 18 points, Myreon Jones added 17 and Mike Watkins grabbed 10 rebounds for Penn State (9-2), which trailed 40-34 at halftime.

Alabama took its biggest lead of the afternoon, 52-43, on a Herbert Jones layup with 14:53 left.

But Penn State came back with a 14-5 run that featured six points from Curtis Jones and a 3-pointer from Myles Dread that made it 57-all just over three minutes later.

Galin Smith reclaimed the lead for Alabama with a pair of tough inside baskets, but Penn State got nine points from Stevens over the next 9:58. They fueled a 16-10 run to the finish for Penn State before Watkins came up with a block and steal on back-to-back Alabama possessions with less than a minute to play.

The Tide had a chance with five seconds left to in-bound the ball, but couldn’t get a clean shot off.

James Bolden scored 15 points and Alex Reese added 12 for Alabama (4-5).

BIG PICTURE

Alabama: This was a solid start to a three-game road stretch for Alabama players who weren’t deterred by Penn State’s stingy defense.

Penn State: The Nittany Lions had trailed at home just once before this season and were able to recover from a sleepy start to keep their strong first half going.

UP NEXT

Alabama visits Stanford on Wednesday.

Penn State hosts Central Connecticut on Friday.