Monroe Brown stepped calmly up to the free throw line with 9 seconds left, bounced the ball, palmed it and sank the first free throw. After the small (3,729), but loud crowd calmed down, he missed the second one.

Marquette scoring machine Tony Smith received the ball at the other end and went up for the jumper. As everybody held their breath, the ball clanked off the rim to end the game as the men's basketball team knocked off the Warriors, 57-54, at Rec Hall last night in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament.

The Lions' (22-8) win last night was quite an accomplishment for a team which has had distractions all week.

"I'm as proud of these guys for this win than any one since I've been at Penn State," Coach Bruce Parkhill said. "They had to come back from a team that was really playing well. We weren't shooting the ball well and all the distractions that have occurred ... I'm happy for the kids."

After the Lions jumped out to a 13-8 lead in the first half, the Warriors went on a 10-4 run. But then came the comeback Parkhill talked about. Up to that point the Lions weren't shooting well and were turning the ball over.

With the Warriors (15-14) leading, 28-17, Ed Fogell sunk a 14-footer. After James Barnes knocked in two free throws, Fogell canned a 16-footer.

After Smith scored for the Warriors, Michael Jennings blasted a 3-pointer to pull the Lions within four, 30-26.

With 1:25 left in the half, Jennings made two free throws. And then with 24 seconds left Fogell fed Dave Degitz inside, and Degitz scored on a layup and was fouled on the play.

He canned the free throw and the Lions were up by one, 31-30. But with 10 seconds left the Warriors' Trevor Powell hit a layup to put the Warriors up by one at half-time.

"I really think the defense was a key, to that spurt," Parkhill said. "We were struggling and to Marquette's credit they made us struggle. But we picked up our defense. I thought we softened up a little bit during that stretch and (Marquette) took advantage of it really well." "There's nothing else we could do than play better than we were playing," Monroe Brown said. "When they made their run it happened at the time when everybody on the floor was beat. I was walking up the court I know that."

The Lions were up 43-40 in the second half when the Warriors went on another run. A tip in by Powell started it. A three-point play and two more foul shots made the score 47-43. The teams traded baskets until Fogell hit two more shots.

When Freddie Barnes canned a 3-pointer it got real loud in Rec Hall, which is surprising for how many people were there.

"I think the crowd was a big factor," Parkhill said. "The size was disappointing, but the people who were there were absolutely fantastic. And there's no doubt in my mind if crowd hadn't been as good as they were, I'm not sure the guys would have had the oomph."

The crowd size could have hurt the Lions' chances of hosting a second round game. But it was not small because of a lack of community support -- a local radio station went out of its way to get people to go to the game as it gave away 25 pairs of tickets yesterday.

"If we were at home we'd want to be filled out of course," Warriors' Coach Kevin O'Neill said. "They're was still a good crowd. I guess there was a controversy here. If that had something to do with it I don't know."

With 5:22 remaining, Smith tied the game at 52, but DeRon Hayes hit a 15-footer to put Penn State back on top. Two key blocks of Smith shots by Fogell set the stage for Hayes as he scored on a layup with 1:16 left and six ticks on the shot clock. Penn State led 56-52.

Smith missed a free throw and Hayes grabbed the rebound, passed it to Brown, who was fouled.

I felt good," Brown said. "Yesterday in practice me and Freddie and Darryl (Ricks) were doing a lot of joking about free throws and if we could hit them under pressure. One the second one I lost concentration because pressure is when you concentrate more."

With the victory Penn State advances to the NIT's second round. However, the Lions will have to wait late Friday or early Saturday morning to find out who,

ere, they will play. The game will be either Monday or Tuesday night.

"I want to play Hawaii," Fogell quipped.