Penn State wins NIT!

◊ Penn State won a hard fought, sometimes even bloody NIT final tonight in New York City, -. Baylor had taken some decent leads through most of the game, but in typical Penn State fashion, the Lions used defense and balanced offense to pull away.

This was a real team effort, again led by the unbreakable Jamelle Cornley. The senior finished with a team high 18 points, while Talor Battle scored another 12, David Jackson and Stanley Pringle each had 10 more, and fifth-year senior Danny Morrissey scored all nine points on crucial three-pointers.

Penn State kept themselves in the game early by pulling down rebounds for second-, third- and even fourth-chance points.

One last thing that should be noted: the officiating crew sucked. Even though they called a lot more fouls (19) on Baylor than on Penn State (8), I had to take issue with a few called on the Bears. None of that matters though, because the game is over, and Penn State can actually hang a men's basketball championship banner in the Bryce Jordan Center!

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Penn State survives, will play for NIT title

◊ I guess Penn State just wanted to make things interesting down the stretch. If so, the Lions succeeded, as Notre Dame was able to close a one-time 19-point deficit to four points with only a few minutes left.

But, in true Penn State style, the Lions didn't roll over and die under the pressure. Jamelle Cornley, Talor Battle and Andrew Jones weren't going to let that happen; not this time.

I will admit that I was terrified when Notre Dame went on its run midway through the second half. It felt like all the shots the Irish missed through the first 30 minutes, all of a sudden fell with ease, particularly from behind the arch.

Penn State got a bit sloppy, which directly led to Notre Dame's surge. I think it all came to a head once Cornley got chippy with the Irish players, but fortunately for him and his team, he calmed down and turned that attitude back into production on the court.

Not enough can be said about Jones' performance tonight. The last announced stats for him were 14 points and 14 rebounds. It felt like he had a lot more rebounds. Penn State had a ton of second chances, while taking away crucial Irish opportunities.

Regardless of what happens against Baylor in the NIT final, it's been a great season for Penn State basketball. Let's hope there's one more win up the Lions' sleeves.

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Battle, DeChellis earn Big Ten honors

◊ You can't say Ed DeChellis isn't making progress in Happy Valley. Penn State is one good conference tournament win away from a sure NCAA tournament bid. The Lions boast the media's Coach of the Year, as well as first, second and honorable mention Big Ten selections.

"Penn State coach Ed DeChellis was named the Big Ten Coach-of-the-Year by conference media voters and sophomore guard Talor Battle (Albany, N.Y.) earned first-team All-Big Ten honors from both conference coaches and media when the Big Ten post-season awards were announced Monday. Senior forward Jamelle Cornley (Columbus, Ohio) also earned second-team selection from the media and third-team honors from the coaches and senior guard Stanley Pringle(Virginia Beach, Va.) was an honorable-mention pick from both. Andrew Jones (Philadelphia, Pa.) was named Penn State's sportsmanship award winner."

Things are looking up for Penn State basketball.

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Lions beat Illini, lock up NCAA bid

◊ The ball hung on the basket for what seemed like an eternity. Ed DeChellis, Bruce Weber, the players on the benches, more than 16,000 at the BJC, and thousands more in their living rooms stopped breathing. Then the ball fell through, ending a wild affair tonight in Happy Valley.

Penn State came up with one of the most individually significant wins in recent Nittany Lions basketball history. With tonight's 64-63 victory over No. 23 Illinois, Penn State will go to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in eight years.

This was a 'WOW' game; an instant classic. And fittingly enough, it was Big Ten player of the year front runner Talor Battle who scored the final basket.

We also have to give due credit to DeChellis. He could have lost his team on several different occasions, but wouldn't let his Lions fail.

But the best storyline of the night was easily the effort put forth by senior Jamelle Cornley. He hurt his shoulder with a few minutes left in the game, went out for a few minutes, but returned shortly after. Cornley's arm was visibly out of commission, but he played like a man possessed.

Before I say (very) goodnight, let's just take one last moment to observe the horrendous game by the officiating crew. The funny part was that it got so bad in the second half, the refs had to give Penn State a free call to make up for the earlier missed (and very obviously bad) calls. Andrew Ott's putback that was clearly legit, but was called off, and Illinois' basket that was blatantly a shot clock violation.

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Iowa blows huge lead, PSU wins 63-59

◊ Wow. Penn State was down to Iowa by 14 points in the second half. The Lions were out of synch, missing easy shots, and all seemed lost when Jamelle Cornley was hit with a technical. Oh, but it was far from over. Cornley played like a madman the rest of the game, while Iowa simply crumbled under the pressure, losing 63-59. This was an all-timer of a choke job by the Hawkeyes, and could go down as the worst loss by any team in the BigTen this season.

It showed that this Penn State team won't go down. That kind of attitude could come in very handy for the BigTen tournament, and possibly the NCAAs.

What a win for Penn State, and what a loss for Iowa.

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Wham... Bam... thank UM'am!

Penn State basketball held a comfortable, if not dominating lead through most of the second half, as the Lions cruised to a decisive 73-58 BigTen victory over the University of Michigan tonight in Happy Valley. This was Penn State's night, while it was definitely not Michigan's.

To put it another way... Penn State absolutely embarrassed Michigan.

The Wolverines couldn't get into any sort of rhythm, particularly on defense, as Penn State did whatever it wanted to.

This was a huge win for a program that has been to the NCAA Tournament once in the last---well, it's not been a pleasant couple of decades for Penn State basketball. Michigan is a very good team, despite tonight's decision, but the Lions left no questions about where their own team is... right in the thick of tournament talk.

Really?!?!

Yup.

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