Penn State 68, Nebraska 65: D.J. Newbill tallied 26 points and a career-high four blocks while Geno Thorpe hit a pair of free throws with four seconds remaining as the Nittany Lions edged the Cornhuskers in the first round of the Big Ten tournament in Chicago.

Freshman Shep Garner added a season-high 19 points for No. 13 seed Penn State (17-15), which faces fifth-seeded Iowa in Thursday’s second round. Brandon Taylor provided eight points, six boards and five rejections off the bench as the Nittany Lions set a tournament record with a school-record 16 blocked shots.

Terran Petteway hit four first-half 3-pointers and finished with a game-high 29 points for No. 12 seed Nebraska (13-18), which dropped its ninth straight game to match its longest losing streak since 2002-03 despite grabbing 24 offensive rebounds and winning the battle of the glass 51-34. Shavon Shields posted his second double-double of the season with 20 points and 10 boards, but missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer in the waning seconds.

After misfiring on its first two 3-point attempts out of the break, Penn State connected on its next four – two each from Newbill and Garner – during a second-half opening 17-6 surge that left the Nittany Lions with a 16-point advantage with 15:47 remaining. Nebraska staged a furious rally over the following six minutes, scoring the next 14 points to pull within 51-49 midway through the second half on a 3-pointer from Tai Webster.

Penn State refused to give up the lead, however, getting another 3-pointer from Garner and a three-point play from Newbill on consecutive possessions and pushed its edge back out to eight less than two minutes later. The Cornhuskers closed within one twice down the stretch - the second time coming with 43 seconds left after a pair of late free throws from Petteway - but were unable to secure a late rebound with six seconds to go that could have given them a chance to score the go-ahead bucket on the other end.

GAME NOTEBOOK: The Nittany Lions’ previous school record for blocked shots was 13 against Lehigh on Dec. 6, 1998. … Nebraska, which entered Wednesday averaging a conference-low 8.4 offensive rebounds and ranked second-to-last in total rebounds (32.4), posted its most offensive boards since collecting 24 against Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Nov. 23, 2004, and recorded its most total rebounds since corralling 52 against Texas Tech on Feb. 27, 2010. … Newbill's four blocks were one more than he tallied in his first 31 games this season combined and the first time he recorded more than one in a contest.