Feb. 6, 2010
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; Jan. 21, 2010 - Talor Battle (Albany, N.Y.) tied the score at 64 with nine seconds to play, but Minnesota's Lawrence Westbrook hit a fade-away, 18-foot game-winning jumper as time expired to hand the Nittany Lions a heartbreaking, 66-64 defeat in front the faithful that braved 15 inches of snow to get to the Bryce Jordan Center Saturday. Battle's 20 points led the way for Penn State, which fell by six points or less or in overtime for the sixth time in Big Ten play, while David Jackson (Farrell, Pa.) netted 18 and Chris Babb (Arlington, Texas) added 12.
Down by six with 1:23 remaining, Penn State (8-15, 0-11 Big Ten) battled back with three-pointers from Jackson and Battle on successive possessions to pull within 64-62 with 37 seconds on the clock. Tim Frazier (Houston, Texas) then tied up Westbrook to force a jump ball and give the Nittany Lions possession with a chance to tie the score. After a pair of Battle shots were off the mark, Jeff Brooks (Louisville, Ky.) grabbed a loose ball off a wild scramble and found Battle for an easy layup with only nine seconds to go.
It looked like the game would go to overtime, but Westbrook stunned the crowd and the Nittany Lions with a clutch jumper that gave Minnesota (14-8, 5-5) just its second win in its last six games.
"The last thing out of the timeout I told them was that after we score this ball, we've got to sprint back and match and we know who the guys are they're going to try and go to and he's (Westbrook) the guy," Penn State coach Ed DeChellis said. "He's very good at dipping his shoulder, getting into you, stepping back and making a shot and that's what he did. As soon as he released it, it looked good to me. He's a senior and he made a big play, a play to win the game. But, it was a contested shot. I don't think Chris (Babb) could have defended it any better."
The Gophers shot 47 percent (21-for-45) from the field and 31 percent (5-of-16) from three-point range. Penn State finished at 40 percent (21-for-52), including 38 percent (9-for-24) from long range. The Gophers out-scored the Lions 19-13 at the foul line and won the rebounding battle 32-26.
Minnesota staged a balanced scoring attack with four players finishing in double figures. Damian Johnson and Ralph Sampson III had 13 each to lead the way while Lawrence Westbrook and Blake Hoffarber added 12 apiece, Hoffarber hitting 4-of-7 from three.
Battle, who had a career high five steals and added five assists on the night, logged his Big Ten leading 12th 20-point plus game of the year and his sixth in his last seven games. He passed Jarrett Stephens (1,372) for eighth all-time on the Penn State scoring charts with 1,391 points. Jackson posted his career-best fifth-straight double-figure scoring game and his 12th on the season as the junior has emerged as a consistent and effective scoring threat.
The Lions saw their losing streak extend to 11 games and with an 0-11 Big Ten start eclipsed the 2002-03 team for the worst Big Ten start since Penn State joined the conference in 1993.
"We talked about character (in the locker room); I thought we talked about a little toughness; I thought we talked about sticking together," DeChellis said. "We're going through a very difficult time, but that's who we have. We have each other and we've got to continue to battle. It's hard for everybody to accept that and we don't accept it, but in reality, we've got to come back to work on Monday.
"We've got Michigan State coming in and we're going to take our swings and we're going to play hard and we're going to try and beat that team. We've had a chance to win a lot of games and that's the frustrating part but we have each other and we're going to stick together and we're going to continue to work hard."
Trailing 36-30 at the half, Babb opened the second with a bang by scoring Penn State's first six points behind a pair of treys. The first came with 18:54 on the clock and the second came one minute later to pull the Lions within 38-36.
Minnesota answered with seven of the next nine points to make it 45-38 with 15:02 remaining. The Gophers extended their lead to as many as nine, 53-44, with 9:33 to play when the Lions ran of five-straight with a Babb three and a Battle lay-up to scratch within four. Devoe Joseph missed a lay-up for Minnesota and Penn State raced out. Babb had an open three to cut the margin to one, but his shot went wide.
Minnesota pushed its lead back to five when a disputed call on the shot clock expiring during a Gopher possession led to a technical foul on the Minnesota bench. The call gave life to the Nittany Nation. Jackson hit both technical free throws to cut the lead to 54-52 with 6:42 to play, the closest the Lions had been since 29-27 in the first half. After a pair of Gopher free throws, Tim Frazier ended a 3:59 field goal drought by hitting a layup to pull back within two, 56-54.
Minnesota would use a Damian Johnson dunk, Paul Carter lay-up and a pair of free throws to rebuild a six-point lead as Penn State went scoreless for two minutes. Jackson's three broke the drought with 1:13 to play and set up the closing seconds.
Jackson provided the early offense, scoring Penn State's first seven points of the game. After hitting a three-pointer from the top of the key, he followed with a pair of layups. His second with 15:05 remaining in the first half tied the score at seven.
Minnesota went on to open a 19-12 lead with 10:31 to go, capped off by Johnson's five points in a span of 22 seconds. The Nittany Lions responded behind Frazier's baseline move followed by a Battle pull up three-pointer to make it 19-17 with 9:45 remaining until halftime.
The Gophers extended their lead to five at 24-19, but Penn State answered with an Andrew Jones (Philadelphia, Pa.) jumper and Babb trey to tie the score at 24 with 6:18 remaining in the half. Minnesota then went on a 12-3 run to open its largest lead of the half at 36-27, but a Battle three-pointer with one minute to go cut the deficit to six at the end of 20 minutes.
The Nittany Lions are back in action next Saturday as they host No. 5 Michigan State at 12 p.m. in an ESPN nationally televised game. It will be Coaches vs. Cancer Day at the Bryce Jordan Center and fans will receive a Talor Battle figurine while supplies last.
-NITTANY LIONS-