UNIVERSITY PARK — Freshman Kayden Mingo scored a career-high 24 points, and Penn State held off Harvard for an 84-80 victory on Wednesday night.
Harvard’s Chandler Pigge made three free throws to tie it 70-all with 4 minutes, 56 seconds remaining. Penn State’s Melih Tunca scored the next four points, and the Nittany Lions later stretched their lead to 82-76 with 24 seconds to play. Pigge converted a four-point play to cut the deficit to 82-80 before Freddie Dilione V sealed it from the free-throw line.
Mingo shot 8 of 18 from the floor and made all seven of his free-throw attempts. Josh Reed added 14 points, Dilione chipped in with 13, and Tunca finished with 10 for Penn State (5-0).
Pigge scored 21 points and had nine assists for Harvard (4-2). Thomas Batties III scored 17 points and made five 3-pointers, Ben Eisendrath had 15 points and Tey Barbour 12.
Penn State shot 31 of 57 (54%) from the field and Harvard was 30 of 57. The Crimson hit 12 from long distance and the Nittany Lions had just five 3-pointers, but Penn State was 17 of 25 from the line while Harvard made 8 of 8 free throws.
Penn State, which is 5-0 for the second straight season, hosts Providence on Saturday.
