Chicago, IL (SportsNetwork.com) - D.J. Newbill scored 26 points on 9-of-22 shooting and the Penn State Nittany Lions held off the Nebraska Cornhuskers, 68-65, in the first round of the Big Ten Conference Tournament.

Shep Garner made five 3-pointers en route to 19 points for the 13th-seeded Nittany Lions (17-15), who will play the fifth-seeded Iowa Hawkeyes in the second round on Thursday.

Terran Petteway ended with 29 points for the 12th-seeded Cornhuskers (13-18), who lost their ninth straight game. Shavon Shields contributed 20 points and 10 rebounds.

Ahead 37-34 early in the second half, the Nittany Lions created some distance with a 14-1 run. Newbill tallied eight points during the burst that Garner capped with a 3-pointer for a 51-35 edge with 15:52 to play.

But the Cornhuskers scored the next 14 points to make it a game again.

Newbill made a layup and Ross Travis added a free throw to give Penn State a 66-62 edge with 2:18 left. Petteway then made 3-of-4 foul shots around Newbill's miss to cut the gap to one.

Penn State kept possession despite another missed shot by Newbill. The possession arrow pointed to the Nittany Lions following a jump ball, and Geno Thorpe made two foul shots to make it 68-65 with 4.2 seconds left.

Shields missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer.