Freddie Barnes scored a career high of 21 points against Massachusetts Saturday night, but his best wasn't enough as the men's basketball team lost, 64-52, and closed its holiday road trip with a 2-4 record.

Both the Lions (7-4) and UMass (6-3) played solid defense most of the night, but could not put many shots though the hoop.

"Our biggest downfall was on offense," Coach Bruce Parkhill said. "We had too many turnovers. Freddie and Monroe (Brown) threw the ball away too many times. And we're not going to win many if even one of those two is not playing well."

The game got off to a slow start, including a seven-minute stretch early in the first half in which the only points came off foul shots.

Then, with about 10 minutes remaining in the half, Brown finally scored to give the Lions their biggest lead of the night, 10-5.

Two minutes later Jim McCoy's jumper put the Minutemen on top, 13- 12. UMass then scored 12 unanswered points to go up 21-12, a deficit from which the Lions never recovered.

Neither team shot well from the floor during the first half, 35 percent for UMass and 33 percent for Penn State. The Minutemen went 6-for-9 from the free throw line and turned the ball over six times while the Lions sank 5-of-9 free throws and committed seven turnovers.

"Our defense was effective," Parkhill said, "but we couldn't score ourselves. When you have a team that's playing in peaks and valleys, you can't really put your finger on the problem. I'm baffled right now."

The second half, while not quite as harsh as the first, produced the same result. Penn State opened with the ball, only to have it immediately stolen by McCoy. Seconds later UMass forward John Tate got out of a pressure situation by bouncing the ball out of bounds off Freddie Barnes.

UMass retained possession, but Barnes then got the ball off a steal and went coast to coast for a basket and a foul to put the Lions within reach, 24-20, with 19 minutes left. But the comeback attempt got snarled when forward Tony Barbee scored and drew a foul, putting the Minutemen's lead back to seven.

On the next possession, Ed Fogell dunked off a feed from Brown to bring the score to 27-22. Throughout the half, however, the Lions got no closer than five points and were down by as much as 16 during the final minutes of the game.

"We made a lot of turnovers at crucial moments," forward DeRon Hayes said. "They were really just silly mistakes. But every time we'd try to make a run, we'd make a silly mistake instead."

The one bright spot in the defeat was Barnes, who scored most of his points in the second half, including 10-for-10 from the foul line before fouling out with about 30 seconds left. With 6:31 left he converted on two foul shots, orchestrated full-court pressure to cause a Minuteman turnover and banged home an 18-foot jumper to bring the Lions to within seven, 46-39, one last time.

After Barnes made that shot, the Lions' situation disintegrated rapidly, although he did spur another run with four straight free throws and an assist to Rodney Henderson with about 2:30 left in the game to bring the score to 54-45 UMass.

Statistically, the Minutemen beat the Lions in most categories, outrebounding them, 30-27, outblocking them, 8-1, and outstealing them, 11-2. The Lions shot 45 percent from the field and 25 percent on three-point shots and 71 percent from the free throw line. In comparison, the Minutemen's numbers were 46.7 percent, 0 percent and 72.7 percent.

"We have to find it in ourselves to be competitors," Parkhill said. "But right now some of us aren't, even some guys who were here last year."