Lions Shed Season's Demons in OT Win

Nebraska’s Glynn Watson dribbled around a high screen, bounced back wildly toward the arc and unloaded Penn State’s worst nightmare on one leg.

With less than a minute to play, Watson banged home the 3-point shot over the outstretched arm of Tony Carr, eliminating what’d been a 10-point second half lead for the Nittany Lions. Tied at 58, Penn State’s season of close calls would be put to the test yet again.

“Déjà vu. Here we go again. It’s back,” said Carr. “It's kind of like we get in that position every game, so at this point, it's nothing new.”

The Nittany Lions’ No. 13 seed in this Big Ten Tournament can largely be credited to similar plays from opponents throughout the conference slate. Whether a buzzer-beater, an overtime run out of gas or their own missed shot with time expiring, the Nittany Lions had compiled a 1-6 record in Big Ten games decided by a single possession or in overtime.

Understanding intimately the daggers of close games in the Big Ten, falling twice in a five-game losing stretch on just such occasions, head coach Patrick Chambers was determined to take his own personal step of development to shrug off the sequence.

“I was just like, here it is again. We gotta be able to get stops,” said Chambers. “Really, I moved on, which maybe in years past I would have let that hold me back. But it didn't hold me back. I've been through those experiences as well with this team, so now I knew, move on, get past it.”

Though the shot went down, followed by a traded pair of Lamar Stevens free throws and an easy Ed Morrow layup, Nebraska’s last-ditch, half court heave at the end of regulation would fall harmlessly off the backboard and to the Verizon Center hardwood.

This time, the Nittany Lions would not relent.

Though they were ahead 38-33 at the half and stretched that lead to 51-41 midway through the second half, the late-game turn was only momentary for the young group. Beginning with a Lamar Stevens 3-pointer at the 4:22 mark in OT, the Nittany Lions managed to build a 65-60 lead with a pair of Josh Reaves free throws, then extended it to 72-62. Aided by some fortunate bounces and clutch rebounds all to Penn State’s favor in spite of a whopping 17 offensive boards surrendered for the game, by the time Shep Garner sent home a rattling 3-pointer against an expiring shot clock, the Nittany Lions had reversed their recent histories.

“You always get a little nervous when things like that happens over and over and over and over again. The outcome has been the same, but once we got through it and we got into overtime, I knew we would score,” said Garner. “Then once I got out there, they gave me the ball with time running down and I knew I was going to make the play.”

Closing out the game at the free throw line, knocking down each of their final 10 attempts from the charity stripe after stumbling badly in regulation, the Nittany Lions emerged with the win and plenty of confidence to go with it.

They’ll return to face No. 5-seed Michigan State Thursday at 2:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast on BTN.