The Gophers men’s basketball team was overmatched in the first half of a Big Ten game — again.

The latest opening chapter of a tired, old story came Saturday when Minnesota fell behind a mediocre Penn State team 45-31 at the break.

The twist was an about-face second-half comeback in an 83-74 win over the Nittany Lions at the Bryce Jordan Center in State College, Pa.

The Gophers (13-7, 4-5 Big Ten) have trailed at the half in all nine conference games this season, but with a 52-29 scoring margin in the second half, they were able to end a four-game losing streak against Penn State (9-11, 3-6). Dawson Garcia led Minnesota with 20 points and Cam Christie had 19.

Minnesota won at Penn State for the first time since 2018.

Minnesota had nearly erased the entire 14-point deficit in less than four minutes at the start of the second half, going on a 15-4 run to make it a one-point deficit at 49-48.

Gophers coach Ben Johnson called a timeout with 1:10 remaining and the Gophers holding a 72-71 lead. Out of the timeout, Cam Christie made a driving layup and was fouled. He missed the free throw, but Josh Ola-Joseph got the offensive rebound, finished a layup, was fouled and made the free throw to make it a 77-71 lead.

Johnson fist-pumped after Ola-Joseph’s rebound and said the hustle plays “in my opinion, kind of sealed it.”

Gophers starting point guard Elijah Hawkins picked up his third and fourth fouls within one minute and took a seat on the bench with 8:40 left in the game. He returned with six minutes left and fouled out with 1:18 remaining.

In the first half, the Gophers struggled once Hawkins picked up his second foul with 6:49 remaining. With Hawkins relegated to the bench, the Nittany Lions went on a 15-0 run over the next four minutes to lead 45-31 at the half.

“We didn’t really have issues with (Penn State’s) press until he got out of the game,” Johnson said. “Then we just kind of lost our minds. When we got him back in the second half, it’s as simple as that. He did a great job leading.”

Minnesota had seven first-half turnovers and shot 1 for 7 from 3-point range.

Gophers center Pharrel Payne did not play due to his lingering back injury. The U big man has been battling the ailment for a while and was laboring through his 29 minutes in the Wisconsin loss Tuesday.

Without Payne, backup forward Parker Fox stepped up with 11 points, four blocks and three rebounds.