March 13, 2008
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., MARCH 13, 2008 - Trailing 62-52 with 4:53 to play, a young Penn State team mounted an 11-0 run to overtake a veteran Illinois team, but came up shorts when Chester Frazier's lay-up with four seconds to play gave the Illini a 64-63 victory Thursday at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Ind.
The seventh seeded Nittany Lions fell to 15-16 on the year after posting their best Big Ten campaign in eight seasons with a 7-11 conference record. They dropped to 5-11 all-time in the Big Ten Tournament after falling for the eighth time in the first round and for the second straight year to the Illini. Illinois improved to 14-18 on the year, winning their record 19th Big Ten Tournament game and ending a two-game winning streak for Penn State over Illinois on the season. Illinois will take on No. 2 seed Purdue Friday at 6:30 p.m.
"I thought our kids really battled and played hard," Penn State coach Ed DeChellis said. "We got ourselves in a hole in the second half. But, I think we have a bunch of kids who really believe they can win and did a great job fighting back and putting us in a position to win the game."
Freshman Talor Battle led Penn State with another stellar outing scoring 17 points and adding six rebounds and a team-high five assists. Junior Stanley Pringle made 3-of-5 threes to score 13 points. Freshman Andrew Jones scored 10 points and grabbed six rebounds and freshman Jeff Brooks scored eight and grabbed a career high nine boards. Penn State started four freshmen for the third straight game and they again produced big combining for 43 points and 27 rebounds.
Senior Brian Randle scored 17 points to lead Illinois and went a rare 7-of-7 from the line for a player shooting 56 percent from the foul line on the season. Trent Meacham added 14 points on 4-of-9 from three while Demetri McCamey had 11 and Shaun Pruitt 10 points and 11 boards.
Penn State shot a sizzling 58 percent from the floor in the first half, but managed just 25 percent (8-of-32) in the second to finish the game at 40 percent and 8-of-22 from three. The Illini shot 42 percent for the game and won the battle at the foul line making 13-of-17 to Penn State's 9-of-9. Illinois was dominating the boards in the first half (16-11) before Penn State got aggressive on the glass and won the rebounding battle 23-17 in the second half, including 13 second half offensive boards. Penn State won the overall rebounding battle 34-33 and pulled down a Penn State Tournament record 18 total offensive boards.
Penn State trailed 39-37 at the half after the Illini held as much as an 11-point first half lead. Pringle tied the game at 39 early in the second half and then hit a three-pointer with 14:57 to play to cut a four-point Illini lead to one, 45-44.
Illinois then went on a 6-0 run getting a three from Frazier and a three-point play from Randle to open up a 51-44 lead with 12:19 to play.
A Danny Morrissey three got Penn State back within four and a Brooks jumper cut the Illinois lead to 51-49 with 9:40 to play. Illinois then went on an 11-2 run getting four points from Randle, a three from Meacham, an offensive rebound and put-back from McCamey and a pair of free throws from Pruitt to take a 62-52 lead with 4:53 to play.
A resilient Penn State team would not fold as it clamped down on the Illinois offense and got big plays from freshmen. Penn State held the Illini to just two free throws over 6 ½ minutes as the Nittany Lions charged into the lead. Battle scored five points, Jackson five and Jones two down the stretch as Penn State took a 63-62 lead with 2:04 to play.
A pair of Jackson free throws started the 11-0 run for Penn State. Battle then took Frazier off the dribble and converted the lay-up to cut the lead to 63-57. After a pair of missed free throws from Pruitt, Jackson took a nice feed from Mike Walker off a slip screen and scored to cut the lead to 62-59. After a pair of missed threes from Illinois, Battle made a spinning drive on Randle converting the bucket and drawing the senior's fifth foul. He made the free throw to cut the lead to 62-61.
Following another miss from Pruitt, Penn State got a pair of offensive rebounds before Jones came up with the ball and was fouled by Calvin Brock. Jones stepped to the line and sank a pair to put Penn State up 63-62 with 2:04 to play.
Brock missed on the other end and Penn State took the air out of the ball, running the shot clock down until Pringle got loose for a three from the top of the key. It missed, sat on the rim briefly and then fell away. Pruitt grabbed the rebound, but Frazier turned the ball over on the other end and Penn State had another chance to extend the lead.
Penn State again ran the shot clock down before setting up a three-point attempt for Morrissey. McCamey blocked it with 30 second to play and Illinois had a chance for the final possession and a game winner.
Brock missed a jumper with eight seconds to play, but Penn State couldn't come up with the rebound and the ball went out of bounds to Illinois. Off the inbounds, Illinois hit Meacham. Looking to help on the Illini's best perimeter shooter, Battle hedged out to the three-point line and Meacham found Frazier under the rim where he flipped in a reverse lay-up for the game winner.
A last second 30-foot three from Battle was off left and the Illini charged the floor.
Penn State led by as many as five, 12-7, in the first half after back-to-back threes from Battle and Pringle, but Illinois used a 21-5 run over nearly eight minutes to open up it largest lead of the game, 28-17, with 8:44 to play in the first half. Penn State quickly cut the margin down to five getting threes from Jackson and Battle, before Meacham answered with a three for Illinois. Penn State then used an 8-2 run getting jumpers from Brooks, Pringle and Battle and a dunk from Jones off a nice Brooks assist to cut the lead to two, 33-31, with 3:45 to play.
The Illini got buckets from Randle and Meacham to extend the lead to six with 1:50 to play. A sweet Battle drive and kiss off the glass and a Battle drive and finish in heavy traffic in the lane ended the first half scoring for Penn State as he scored 12 points in the first 20 minutes, many in spectacular fashion.