Basketball coaches always try to have their teams peak at tournament time. And that's exactly what Bruce Parkhill's Lions did.

In six days, the men's basketball team turned itself from Atlantic 10 also-rans to conference tournament champions. After a frustrating up and down season, the Lions played their finest three games in the A-10 Tournament and are headed to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1965.

"This is a dream come true for me," said Parkhill, a State College native. "The last time Penn State had an NCAA team, I was sneaking into Rec Hall and sitting on the railing watching them play."

In Thursday night's championship game, Penn State (20-10) used blistering outside shooting in the first half and bruising inside baskets by senior forward James Barnes in the second to beat George Washington, 81-75, before 7,103 crazed fans in Rec Hall.

It didn't take long for the fireworks to start. Just 33 seconds into the game, GW coach Mike Jarvis was hit with a technical foul by official George Watts.

Jarvis fired the basketball at Watts after it was knocked out of bounds by a GW defender. Watts was unable to handle the pass and whistled Jarvis for the T. The ball might have had a little extra zip on it after Penn State guard Monroe Brown went over GW guard Dirkk Surles for a rebound and no call was made.

But Javis claimed he was innocent: "I teach the chest pass everyday in practice. The referee appologized later. I think he was more embarrassed that he didn't catch the ball than at the pass itself. But thank God that didn't have a hell of a lot to do with anything."

Point guard Freddie Barnes -- named Tournament MVP after the game -- nailed both free throws to put the Lions up 2-0. On the possession, forward DeRon Hayes -- also named to the All-Tournament team -- canned a eight-foot baseline jumper to make it 4-0.

The Colonials (19-11) tied it up on a jumper by forward Sonni Holland and a driving layup by point guard Alvin Pearsall. But the Lions went up by four again when Hayes hit a jumper and Brown followed his own miss with a tip-in.

The two teams traded buckets to make it 10-6 and then Lions blew the game open. Freddie Barnes nailed a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 16:41 left in the half to make it 13-6. Then Brown blocked a Surles shot at one end and hit a trey at the other to push the lead to 10.

On the Colonials' next possession, Brown made a steal and gave it up to Freddie Barnes who gave it back to Brown for the fast-break layup. That pushed the Lions lead to 18-6 with 15:43 left. The Colonials called a timeout and the Rec Hall crowd went crazy.

"We knew they wanted to establish the inside early in the game," Surles said. "We wanted them to shoot (from the outside) the first couple of shots. But after they hit those they just couldn't miss."

"I was concerned that they would get caught up in things and go crazy," Parkhill said. "But we just came out on fire."

After the timeout James Barnes made a layup to make it 12 unanswered points for the Lions and a 20-6 lead.

Penn State would push that lead 31-12 when guard Michael Jennings hit back-to-back 3-point bombs midway through the first half. The Lions fought off a George Washington run and took 46-31 lead into the locker room when Freddie Barnes made an acrobatic running jumper in the lane at the buzzer.

The Lions hit 19-of-32 field goal attempts, including 5-of-6 3-pointers, for 59.4 percent in the first half. But Freddie Barnes credited the defense with building the big lead.

"We played tough defense in the first half," he said. "They were missing and we were getting the rebounds. The basket just started getting smaller for them and I think they got frustrated."

The Colonials made a couple runs in the second half, but each time James Barnes answered. GW forward J.J. Hudock nailed a 3-pointer with 8:57 left to pull the Colonials with 10 at 62-52. Barnes then took a feed from Hayes and hit a layup and was fouled by Hudock. Barnes hit the free throw to push the lead to 13 again.

With 5:05 left, Holland hit two free throws to pull GW with nine at 69-60. Barnes came back and hit two free throws to push the lead back to 11. On the next possession Surles made a fantastic running jumper but Barnes came back with a layup.

Barnes led the Lions with 22 points and seven rebounds. He was also named to the All-Tournament team.

"I keep telling my assistants that some day they have to get me someone half as big and half as good," Jarvis said. "Whenever they needed a big basket he got it. He was the man."

The Colonials made the game appear closer than it actually was by hitting the final two baskets. But by that time the Lions had already begun their celebration. Jennings was the first to climb to the top of the basket and raise his index finger to the air. He was followed by Hayes and the Lion mascot and each received a thunderous ovations from the sellout crowd.

Each of the Lions got a chance to cut down the nets. After security cleared the floor the players and coaches received their championship watches and trophy.

Freddie Barnes had 18 and Hayes 12 to join James Barnes in double figures. George Washington was led by Surles with 21, Holland with 19 and forward Glen Sitney with 11.

"This was one of our goals -- to make it to the NCAA Tournament," Freddie Barnes said. "It looked like we weren't going to make it because our defense wasn't up to par and we were losing some games we thought we should have won.

"But heading into the tournament we started to gel as a team and started to play defense. It just kind of came together."