PISCATAWAY, N.J -- For the first time in the history of Penn State basketball, the Lions will be making a trip to the Final Four of the National Invitation Tournament. The team earned the trip by beating Rutgers, 58-55, last night at the Louis Brown Athletic Center.

With the win, the Lions (24-8) advanced to the Final Four in Madison Square Garden in New York on Monday. They will face Vanderbilt (19-14).

After the last second ticked off the clock, jubilant Penn State fans stormed the court and mobbed the Lions. Guard Lem Joyner left the court yelling, "We going to go dancing at the Garden."

In a game that went back and forth, the outcome was still in doubt in the last minute. Freddie Barnes missed a 3-pointer with 33 seconds left, but Rutgers' Earl Duncan missed a jump shot for the Knights. With three seconds left Barnes was fouled and made both free throws.

In those final seconds, the ghost of last season's Atlantic 10 Championship game crept into the minds of the players.

"Yeh, we had that in the back of our minds," center Ed Fogell admitted. "I just looked at it that they would have to beat us. If they did, it would be a tough one to swallow."

After two Lions fouled and Duncan missed, the Knights (18-17) inbounded the ball and called timeout, but no time ran off the clock. The Knights' Mike Jones missed a desperation shot and the game was over.

Fogell, who scored 16 points, said he loved the last three seconds.

"I just looked at it as either the last three seconds of my college career or a trip to the Final Four," he said. "Those three seconds are the kind of stuff you wait for."

Although the Lions were down, 34-29, at halftime, the the team proved it could come back to win.

"It was a great game," Coach Bruce Parkhill said. "This is a great place to play because Rutgers is a good team with great fans. The atmosphere is tremendous."

"Penn State is a very good team," Rutgers coach Bob Wenzel said. "After we played up there I thought they were an NCAA-bound team."

In the hotly contested first half, the Lions jumped out to a 14-3 lead thanks in part to hot shooting from the floor. A turn-around jumper by Dave Degitz started the scoring. DeRon Hayes followed with a basket of his own after getting the rebound of a Monroe Brown miss.

Anthony Duckett had scored the first basket for Rutgers, but RU didn't begin to make its run until after Hayes hit his follow-up shot.

The Knights' Donnell Lumpkin hit a 3-pointer. After Degitz converted on one of two free throws, Duckett hit two jump shots which brought the loud home crowd to its feet for the first time.

The Lions went on a 6-3 run, and lead 21-13, but the Knights started another run -- one the Lions wouldn't be able to stop in the first half. From there the Knights went on a 21-8 spurt. Lee Perry tied it at 23 with a layup, and Duckett put the Knights ahead at the 5:25 mark with a jump shot.

Degitz put the Lions in front again, 27-26, on a layup. But Keith Hughes scored for the Knights, and from there Rutgers scored six unanswered points.

In the second half, the Lions slowly chipped away at the Knights' lead to eventually move ahead, 46-45 on a DeRon Hayes jumper. The Lions fell behind again, but caught up to the Knights, going ahead as Hayes sunk two free throws with 4:41 left.

A big point in the game came when Hayes canned a jumper with 1:40 left and no time left on the shot clock. After that came the wild play at the end.

"None of us have been to Madison Square Garden," Parkhill said. "It's going to be exciting and I think it's very exciting for the guys."