How often are four technical fouls called against one team in a single basketball game?

Unless it's the Big East, not too often.

Until last night, that is, when Massachusetts, the No. 1 team in Atlantic 10 conference racked up that many. Penn State then converted 7-of-8 technical free throws in its 74-71 victory last night at Rec Hall.

Still the Lions (10-4, 4-2 in the A-10) had to struggle to come up with the victory over the Minutemen (10-4, 6-1).

"From my perspective, this game was a lot like the one we played up there," Coach Bruce Parkhill said. "We just didn't look ourselves at times at both ends of the floor. We had some unnecessary turnovers, we were out of sync offensively and had some breakdowns defensively. But UMass is a great team. This was a good win for us."

The Minutemen had their own problems, such as the technicals (two in each half) and the shutdown of some of their key players.

"Let's not look at (the technicals), let's look at Penn State," Coach John Calipari said. "They played a good game, they had a great crowd and Bruce Parkhill did a great job. They deserved to win that game."

One of the strengths the Lions exhibited was the shutdown of UMass freshman wonder Tony Barbee. Barbee is capable of shooting the lights out any given night, but the Lions' own freshman starter, DeRon Hayes, played him tight and held him to only nine points.

"From looking at films of him, I knew how he likes to shoot," Hayes said. "So every time he got the ball I just crowded him. And I was trying to force (Jim) McCoy and Barbee to the middle so we'd have a lot of help. I guess that's what shut them down."

McCoy is the other UMass shooting phenomenon. He drilled 17 points in the first half, but once the Lion defense kicked in, he was only allowed eight in the second.

Penn State had its own scoring problems though. The lead changed hands only three times early in the game, but scoring came in spurts. The Minutemen kept chipping away at the lead while the Lions struggled at times to rebuild it. At the half, Penn State clung to a 38-37 advantage.

"You never know exactly why, but we played tentatively at both ends," Parkhill said. "We did it again in spurts in the second half. I wish I knew why. If I knew why and could cure it I'd bounce around from college to college and make a mint. It's just one of those things that's part of the game."

During the first few minutes of the second half, the Lions' lead hovered around three or four and the Minutemen were in a very good position to take over the game. Parkhill called timeout with 14:26 left in the game. Less than a minute after coming back on the floor, Michael Jennings scored on a layup and the Lions began an 8-0 run that looked like the end for UMass.

But the Minutemen countered with an 11-4 run of their own and, for a brief moment, were once again within reach -- until two mysterious technicals were called against them. The technicals came after a ten- second call in the Penn State backcourt. Calipari looked at the referee and told him it was "his call." The referee then called a technical on the bench.

"That was my second technical of the game and my second technical of the year," Calipari said. "I never swear. I am emotional and I am acrobatic on the sidelines, but I don't swear. I don't think I deserved it, but that's (the referee's) prerogative."

Five seconds later, with 1:30 remaining in the game, UMass guard Cary Herer fouled Freddie Barnes and yelled something at the referee who made the call and was charged with the team's fourth technical of the game. With Fogell and Barnes combining for 5-of-6 free throws, the Minutemen's deficit increased from three to eight.

But over the next minute, the Lions gave the Minutemen every opportunity to get back in the game. UMass turned to the time-honored tradition of fouling whoever's holding the in-bounded ball, and the Lions missed the front ends of three one-plus-one opportunities.

"We weren't nervous (when shooting the free throws)," Hayes said. "It's just that sometimes they fall for you and sometimes they don't. We shoot free throws every day, and we just happened to miss them then."

The Minutemen closed to within three on a 3-pointer from Barbee, but Freddie Barnes finally made two free throws with 14 seconds left, extending the lead back to five and clinching the win for the Lions.

Next up for Penn State is Rutgers at 4:30 Sunday afternoon in the Louis Brown Athletic Center. The last time these two teams met was in the A-10 Championship game last March in the same arena. As far as the Lions are concerned, it's payback time.

"This is a big game for us," Fogell said. "The last time we played them, they kept us out of the NCAA Tournament. We're trying right now to remember that feeling of being in the locker room and walking off the court after that game and how bad we felt."