NEW YORK -- In last night's loss to Vanderbilt, the men's basketball team tied its own noose.

The Lions (24-9), during a stretch in the second half, missed opportunity after opportunity to come back. In that stretch, they either missed a shot, got outrebounded or turned the ball over.

The Lions had capitalized on most of the opportunities given to them all year, but last night Penn State did not.

"That's something that we lived on all year," Coach Bruce Parkhill said. "There were a couple of key opportunities that we didn't cash in on.

"When you're sliding off the cliff, you have to make those if you're going to hang in there and win."

"There was one stage there where neither team could score for three or four minutes until (Scott) Draud hit a big 3-pointer," Vanderbilt coach Eddie Fogler said.

Actually, it was Steve Grant and it took 3:34.

The Lions, behind only eight at halftime, had pulled to within five, 48-43, with 14:30 left. But then the Commodores ran off 14 unanswered points to lead 62-43.

The big point, however, came with Vanderbilt leading, 56-43, with 11:55 left. After the Commodores scored, James Barnes, who scored 12 points in the game, missed a jumper.

After the missed jumper, Commodores' forward Charles Mayes grabbed the rebound.

The Commodores missed the shot at the other end, but again, the Lions could not capitalize at their end. The Lions got the ball back and Dave Degitz missed a jump shot.

With 9:21 left, Monroe Brown committed an offensive foul. Later, Brown grabbed a rebound, but lost the ball.

Grant scored with 8:21 left and was fouled on the play by Ed Fogell. Grant converted the free throw and the Commodores were up 59-43.

"I think we had a couple of good opportunities during that stretch," Parkhill said. "When you're hanging by the skin of your teeth, those things have to go down.

"It's things like that that just didn't go down, and Vanderbilt did a nice job at the other end. When those opportunities don't go, it's death valley."

Fogler said he was pleased with the way his team hung in during the stretch.

"We were getting the good shots," Fogler said. "When you're not getting good shots, there's not much you can do about it."

Although it didn't look like it during the stretch, the Lions only committed 13 turnovers to the Commodores 14 in the game. And they were outrebounded, 35-27, but 26 of the Commodores rebounds came on the defensive end.

The Commodores shot just 43.5 percent in the second half. But the Lions could only muster 37.1 percent.

"I felt lousy," Parkhill said. "It's frustrating for me just as it is for the players, when things aren't going your way. . . . We're all competitors, and all of us felt frustrated tonight."