The men's basketball team hasn't done anything easily all season.

Last night the Lions found themselves trailing George Washington by 11 points with 4:55 left before they snapped out of their trance. They then clamped on the defensive pressure and held George Washington to two points the rest of the way, outscoring them 17-2 to pull out a 69-65 Atlantic 10 victory before 4,210 at Rec Hall.

"Talk about getting off the mat," Coach Bruce Parkhill said. "That was a heck of a win. GW was playing really well and we weren't. It really looked bad."

Point guard Freddie Barnes scored six of his game-high 20 points down the stretch as Penn State moved into sole possession of fourth place in the conference. The Lions upped their record to 16-9 and 9-7 in the A-10, while GW dropped to 16-10 and 9-8.

"I got that feeling that we shouldn't lose this game," Freddie Barnes said. "I just tried to get the crowd and my teammates into the game and help us pull it out."

Late in the second half, it looked as if the Lions were destined to lose their third home game in four outings. George Washington forward Sonni Holland nailed an eight-foot baseline jumper with 4:55 left in the game to put the Colonials -- who led 34-33 at the half -- up 63-52.

But then Coach Mike Jarvis' team went cold and the Lions picked it up on the defensive end.

"They played their butts off down the stretch and we didn't," Jarvis said. "They made their shots we didn't ... The game was ours to win. All we had to do was hold on to the ball."

Guard Monroe Brown nailed a 3-pointer on the Lions' next trip down the floor to immediately cut into the lead. Then Brown made a steal on GW's next trip down the floor and James Barnes converted an easy layup to make the score 63-57 with 3:58 left.

Jarvis called a timeout to settle his team down. But Freddie Barnes made a steal and was fouled by Colonials' center Byron Hopkins in an attempt to get the ball back. The foul put George Washington in the penalty as Barnes made both free throws to cut the lead to four with 2:19 left.

After guard Ellis McKennie missed an easy eight-foot jumper Freddie Barnes attempted a 3-pointer. They shot bounced off the rim, but was batted right back to him. Barnes drove the lane and hit a layup while being fouled by Holland. Barnes hit the free throw to cut the GW lead to a point, 63-62, with 1:52 remaining.

"Freddie made some good plays, but that one at the end we really got a good bounce on," Parkhill said. "And you need some good bounces when you're down by double figures late in the second half."

Penn State went to a full-court press after the free throw and Freddie Barnes fouled freshman guard Alvin Pearsall two seconds later. Pearsall, who came into the game shooting 71.2 percent, looked rattled as he badly missed the front end of the one-and-one.

Forward DeRon Hayes made a running 16-foot jumper at the other end to give the Lions their first lead since the early in the second half. GW guard Dirkk Surles, who led the Colonials with 17 points, answered right back with a layup to regain the lead 65-64 with 1:06 remaining.

Then it was Freddie Barnes again with a driving left-handed layup to regain the lead with 53 seconds left. McKennie missed another short jumper and then kicked the ball out of bounds with 23 seconds left while scrambling for the rebound. McKennie and Surles argued that the ball went off Hayes but the call stood.

Freddie Barnes was fouled on the inbounds play. He hit one-of-two free throws to push the lead to 67-65. The Colonials set up a play but Brown read it perfectly. Pearsall tried to force the ball down to Holland but Brown made the steal with 12 seconds left.

"I knew what play was coming, Brown said. "They ran double 24. 1 couldn't make up my mind whether to cover my man or switch. It didn't look like (C.J. Johnson) was going to make so I just stepped back and made the steal."

It was senior night as the Lions handed out letterman's blankets to James Barnes, Johnson, Marty Joyce, Lem Joyner and Tony Soskich. Jarvis felt the emotional crowd may have helped lead the Lions to the comeback.