In this battle between teams going in opposite directions, Penn State kept climbing while Northwestern continued its free-fall.

The No. 13 Nittany Lions outscored Northwestern 33-6 on 3-pointers to notch its eighth win in a row, 77-61, at the Bryce-Jordan Center on Saturday. It was the ninth straight loss for the Wildcats, who have now dropped 14 of their last 15 games.

Northwestern, as is usually the case, showed plenty of fight in a losing effort. The Wildcats cut an 18-point deficit down to seven, at 64-57, after a Pete Nance pull-up jumper off the dribble with 5:16 left in the game.

But Myles Dread hit a contested 3-pointer as the shot clock expired on the ensuing possession, as Penn State, playing to pull within a half-game of first-place Maryland in the Big Ten, scored the next 13 points to put the game away.

Nance and Boo Buie scored 12 points each to pace the Wildcats, while Pat Spencer tallied 11 and Miller Kopp 10.

Stevens scored a game-high 23 points and added seven rebounds to lead Penn State, which has won 14 straight at home.

Penn State hit 11 of 31 3-pointers in the contest, while Northwestern managed to drain just 2 of 14. The Lions also dominated the glass against the Wildcats, holding a 42-30 advantage, including 13-5 on the offensive end.

Northwestern, following its recent pattern, got off to another hot start against the Lions. Kopp hit a 3-pointer from the wing and Buie banked in a long running floater to give the Wildcats a 5-0 lead out of the gate.

The Cats hit five of their first nine shots to lead 11-9 at the first media timeout, as Kopp and Spencer had two baskets each.

But the Lions’ combination of 3-pointers and offensive rebounds reeled the Wildcats in and then put them in the rear-view mirror. Twenty-one of the Nittany Lions’ 37 first-half shots were from beyond the arc in the first half, and many of them were open looks against the Wildcats’ zone.

An Izaiah Brockington layup gave Penn State a double-digit lead at 29-19 at the 7:23 mark. The Lions pushed the advantage to 42-25 after Brockington’s putback of his own miss in the closing minutes of the half before Northwestern scored the last four points to go into the locker room trailing 42-28.

Penn State opened the second half by hitting four of its first five shots to get the lead back to 17, and a Stevens breakaway layup gave the Lions a 58-40 edge with 12:13 left in the half.

Northwestern responded with a 7-0 run to close the advantage to 58-47 after a Miller Kopp 3 from the corner. The Wildcats kept chipping away until they got that lead down to single digits but could get no closer than seven the rest of the way.

Here are our takeaways from the loss that left Northwestern with a record of 6-18 overall and 1-13 in the Big Ten:

Nance played a heck of a game: Head coach Chris Collins vowed after Wednesday night’s loss to Michigan that the struggling sophomore would break through soon. Nance did just that three days later with his best outing in a couple months.

After scoring a grand total of 14 points on 5-for-25 shooting over the previous five games, Nance tallied 12 points on 6-for-7 marksmanship against Penn State. It was his highest scoring output since he put up 14 points against Michigan State on Dec. 18.

Nance had eight points at the half on 4-for-4 shooting and didn’t miss a shot until an errant 3 with 4:13 left. He was solid defensively, pulling down seven rebounds and snagging a steal in 23 minutes. He also committed just two fouls, an area that has often been a problem for him lately.

The Cats picked their poison: Northwestern went into the game with the plan to defend the paint against Stevens and Mike Watkins, players who have wreaked havoc against the Wildcats in the past. As a result, they gave up open looks from the perimeter. A lot of them.

Almost half of Penn State’s shots were 3-pointers, and while they didn’t shoot particularly well – 11 of 31 (35%) – they did rack up 33 points on triples. Dread hit four shots beyond the arc to lead the team, while Jamari Wheeler hit three of four.

Northwestern used quite a bit of zone defense to protect the rim, and the Lions simply took what was given to them.

Offensive rebounds killed the Cats: Northwestern could have lived with Penn State hitting just over a third of its 3-pointers, but coupling that with PSU’s dominance on the glass proved to be the Wildcats’ doom.

Penn State had nine offensive rebounds and a 9-0 edge in second-chance points in the first-half alone. By the end of the game, those advantages were 13-5 and 10-2.

The stronger, more physical Lions were led by the trio of John Harrar, Brockington and Watkins, who had three offensive boards each.

NU didn’t cash in on turnovers: Penn State and Northwestern finished with 11 turnovers apiece. But while the Lions capitalized on those miscues, the Wildcats didn’t.

Penn State had a bulging 19-6 advantage on points off turnovers, a startling number given the fact that both teams had the same number of giveaways. The Lions had seven steals and converted them to easy fast-break opportunities, where they held a 15-8 edge.

Northwestern, meanwhile, scored just three baskets off of Penn State’s double-digit turnovers.