PISCATAWAY, N.J. -- On Tuesday, Coach Bruce Parkhill mused about how long a team could rally around the absence of a star player.

After forward James Barnes broke his toe Sunday, the Lions pulled together and beat Maryland for him. Those who replaced Barnes did a more than admirable job.

Parkhill hoped his team could do the same against Rutgers last night. The job turned out to be much tougher, but the Lions managed to pull together when it mattered most and earned a 58-55 NIT quarterfinal victory.

"I'm still concerned about the situation," Parkhill said. "When you lose a player of such great importance, the team's not going the be the same. Jimmy's injury has really magnified the roles of Dave Degitz and C.J. Johnson and right now they're doing a great job."

But that job got harder last night.

During the first five minutes of the game, the Lions were on fire. Everyone clicked. Then, as suddenly as they had jumped in front, they seemed to go limp.

For the remainder of the period, the Scarlet Knights ganged up on the Lions with increasing force. Everywhere the players looked there was a body in a white jersey almost on top of them.

Parkhill's momentum-filled team was cracking.

"I told the guys at halftime that the last 13 minutes of that half we weren't playing Penn State basketball," Parkhill said.

That, and whatever else he said, worked. The Lions came back for the second half and fought. Fought hard.

Perhaps the Loins were doing it for James Barnes, who was sitting on the bench in street clothes wishing he could jump into the action.

"This was a really emotional win for us, especially not having Jimmy in there," Freddie Barnes said. "He was my motivation in this; he really wanted to play."

Perhaps they were doing it for themselves. But whatever the true motivation, they won in the Louis Brown Athletic Center since 1987, and earned themselves a trip to the Final Four of a national tournament as well.

Either way, James Barnes will be missed. But his absence can still be useful to the team in ways other then the motivational factor.

"This win was for everybody," DeRon Hayes said. "Yes, Jimmy's a big part of our offense, but we know our bench is deep enough to cover for him. Other teams are going to look at us now and think we won't do as well with him gone, but we're deep enough to surprise them."

Sure the bench struggled last night. The whole team did. The point is that it did come back to win in a very unfriendly situation. If other teams look at the struggle alone, the growing talent of James Barnes' replacements might clobber them when they least expect. it.

"Jimmy is more of a power player on the inside," Freddie Barnes said. "But even without him we aren't losing -- except on some rebounding. And with him gone, it allows some people like Dave to grow up and get some playing time."

As Degitz is only a sophomore, the Lions need him to assume more of a leadership role. More importantly --since this may be the last time that the Lions make it to the Final Four of anything -- there is more of a push to win. The more momentum the better.

If James Barnes' unfortunate injury becomes a rallying point, so be it. And while that momentum may be weakening slightly, the Lions are just happy to be where they are today.

"We didn't play as well as we played against Maryland," Parkhill said, "but we played well enough to beat a really good team on its home court."