UNIVERSITY PARK – The Penn State men’s basketball team came out on the short-end of a tight game that saw 12 tied scores and 10 lead changes Sunday afternoon as USC escaped Happy Valley with a 77-75 win inside the Bryce Jordan Center.

The Nittany Lions led by as much as 12 early in the second half before USC battled back to take a lead as large as six points with 6:19 to play. Freddie Dilione V tied the game with a layup with 12 seconds to play, but the Trojans’ Alijah Arenas scored the game-winning layup with 0.7 on the clock to send USC home with the two-point win.

Dilione V led Penn State with 23 points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals. Josh Reed tallied his eighth-straight double-digit scoring effort with 17 points. Ivan Jurić returned from a two-game illness layoff and contributed 13 points and eight rebounds. Dominick Stewart rounded out the Nittany Lion double-digit scorers with 11 points.

The Nittany Lions forced three USC turnovers in the first four-plus minutes while four points from Josh Reed and two from Freddie Dilione V had the score tied at 6-6 at the first media timeout of the game.

The Trojans pulled in front 14-10 following back-to-back triples before Ivan Jurić drilled a 3-pointer of his own to put the score at 14-11 with 12:07 to play in the first half, a three-pointer that sparked an 11-4 run. Penn State also used triples from Justin Houser and Dominick Stewart to pull in front 21-18 with 9:26 on the clock.

USC answered with seven of the game’s next nine points before Reed stopped the streak with a tip-in layup at the 7:57 mark to knot the score at 25-25. It then used a 7-3 spurt from 7:23 to 6:06 to take a 32-28 advantage and force a Penn State timeout.

The Nittany Lions answered right back with a 12-2 run from 5:15 to 1:14 as Penn State held USC scoreless for a nearly four-minute stretch to control a 40-34 edge. The Trojans would score the final basket of the term with four seconds left in the half, but the Nittany Lions took a 40-36 lead into halftime.

Baskets from Jurić, Stewart and Dilione V helped Penn State open the second half on a 10-2 spurt that quickly stretched Penn State’s advantage to 50-38 and forced a USC timeout less than three minutes into the term. However, PSU turnovers allowed the Trojans to quickly put together a 9-0 run and narrow the Nittany Lion lead down to two at 53-51.

A pair of Kayden Mingo free throws momentarily halted the streak, but USC continued its momentum with nine of the game’s next 10 points to put the Trojans in front 60-56 with 8:39 to play. The USC lead reached as much as six at 64-58, but a conventional three-point play from Jurić and back-to-back Mingo buckets gave Penn State back the lead at 65-64 with 4:24 to play.

The Trojans hit a second-chance triple on their next possession to reclaim the lead. USC worked its edge to four at 72-68 at 1:40 before Josh Reed hit a clutch 3-pointer 30 seconds later to make it a one-point game at 72-71 with 1:12 to play. USC hit a pair of free throws on its next possession and Penn State answered with a Stewart layup as it was still a one-point game at 74-73 with 20 seconds left on the clock.

It’d hit the first of two free throws to make it 75-74 before Dilione V sprinted down the court and tossed in a fast-break layup to tie the game at 75-75 with 12 seconds to play. USC then got the ball and out of a timeout, Alijah Arenas scored the game-winning layup with 0.7 seconds left as USC escaped with the 77-75 win.

With the loss, Penn State falls to 1-12 in Big Ten Conference play and 10-14 overall, while USC improves to 7-6 in conference play and 18-6 overall.

With a 17-point performance, senior forward Josh Reed reached double figures for the eighth conference game in a row and 14th time this season. Freshman forward Ivan Jurić recorded his fifth double-digit performance in Big Ten Conference play, improving to 10 overall on the season.