CHICAGO — D.J. Newbill and Penn State are used to playing tight Big Ten games, and all that experience is paying off right now.

Newbill scored 18 points, and the Nittany Lions shut down Iowa in the second half of a 67-58 victory on Thursday in the conference tournament.

“We’ve been in too many games coming down to one possession, one stop, one rebound,” Newbill said. “We’ve learned from that. I think we’re a different team than we are now. We’re looking for a dogfight.”

Ten of Penn State’s 14 Big Ten losses this season were by nine points or less, including an 84-77 overtime thriller against Purdue on Jan. 17. The Nittany Lions (18-15) have a rematch with the Boilermakers in the quarterfinals.

Ross Travis scored a season-high 17 points on 6-for-9 shooting for the 13th-seeded Nittany Lions, who advanced with a 68-65 victory over Nebraska on the first day of the tourney. Geno Thorpe scored seven of his 11 points in the second half.

George Washington 73, Duquesne 55

NEW YORK — Joe McDonald, Patricio Garino and Yuta Watanbe each scored 12 points to lead George Washington past Duquesne 73-55 in the second round of the Atlantic 10 tournament.

The sixth-seeded Colonials (21-11) advanced to the quarterfinals to face No. 3 Rhode Island on Friday at Barclays Center.

The 11th-seeded Dukes (12-19) drew within 50-46 on Micah Mason’s 3-pointer about halfway through the second half. Mason had 17 of his 22 points in the second half.