Penn State's Talor Battle passes to teammate David Jackson during second round West Region action of the NCAA tournament against No. 7 seeded Temple yesterday. The No. 10 seed Nittany Lions lost on a last second desperation heave by Temple's Juan Fernandez.
Hearts are hanging heavy in Happy Valley today as the No. 10 seeded Nittany Lions got bounced out of the second round of the NCAA tournament by their in-state rival, Temple Owls, 66-64. Temple's Juan Fenandez's ugly last second desperation jump shot sent the Nittany Lions into off season conditioning sooner than they had hoped.
The Nittany Lions (19-15) played their style of game most of the first half. While the Nittany Lions rode the timely and accurate shooting of guard Talor Battle all the way to the Big 10 Tournament Champioship game, the only way to survive the big dance is with big bodies in the paint. When Penn State Head Coach Ed Dechellis chose to sit 6-foot-8 forward Jeff Brooks due to first half foul trouble, the Nittany Lions were not the same team and Temple (26-7) managed their way back into the game. At one point, Penn State had opened up a nine point lead with just over 11 minutes to go in the first half only to see it evaporate heading into the half down 35-33.
As if the character of this team hadn't been tested enough throughout the season, Brooks, who had sat in the first half due to foul trouble, went down within the first minute of the second half when he re-aggravated a shoulder injury from earlier in the season.A huge loss for the Nittany Lions. The teams leading rebounder, second leading scorer and dominant big man was lost for the rest of the game.
The resilient Nittany Lions didn't panic, they stayed true to their game and never got down by more than four points in the second half. Down by three with 16 seconds left in the game, Penn State's money man, Talor Battle, hit a three pointer to tie the game with 11 seconds to go and try to force OT. And then, the ugliest shot that ever won a game went down with two seconds left putting an to end the Nittany Lion's dreams of making a deep and respectable run in this year's NCAA tournament.
Penn State guard Talor Battle had his usual game going 5-11 from behind the three-point line on his way to a team-high 23 points. Guard ,Tim Frazier scored 15 points to go with his five rebounds and seven assists.
And, Andrew Jones led the Nittany Lions with eight rebounds. The loss extends Temple's win streak over the Nittany Lions to seven games and pushed Temple's record to 5-1 against Penn State on a neutral court.
NEXT: Penn State spring football practice begins tomorrow and will conclude Saturday, April 16th with the annual Blue/White scrimmage game. Is it autumn yet?
NCAA Second Round Tournament scores of note
East Region No. 5 West Virgina 84, No. 12 Clemson 76
4 Kentucky 59, 13 Princeton 57
West Region
3 Connecticut 81, 14 Bucknell 52
Southeast Region
4 Wisconsin 72, 13 Belmont 58
1 Pittsburgh 74, 16 UNC Asheville 51
11 Gonzaga 86, 6 St. Johns 71
7 UCLA 78, 10 Michigan State 76
2 Florida 79, 15 U.C. Santa Barbara 51
Southwest Region
4 Louisville 61, 13 Morehead State 62
BCS conference records after the first day:
Big East (11 teams): 4-2
Big 10 (7): 1-2
SEC (5): 2-1
PAC 10: (4): 1-0
ACC (4): 0-1
Big 12 (5): 1-1
Non-BCS schools: 4-4
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