I watched in disbelief as some obscure guy named Cabrera drove home two runs to deny my beloved Pirates for the third straight year.

I was in South Bend, Ind., when Rick Mirer fired a two-point conversion pass into the outstretched arms of Reggie Brooks to cap an incredible comeback at the expense of Penn State.

I thought the bleeding had stopped. But Brian Lynch cut me again when he swished a twisting jumper from the baseline to give No. 1 Indiana the great escape Tuesday night.

After trading blows with Penn State for almost 50 minutes, Lynch finally landed the knockout punch for Indiana. But the devastating blow to Penn State occured at the end of regulation when the game was literally taken away from the Lions by the men in stripes.

I'm referring to the play in which Penn State's Greg Bartram was whistled for pushing off of Indiana's Greg Graham on a Lion inbounds pass.

TV replays clearly showed Bartram being held by Graham.

I'm not one to harp on officiating. I know Penn State certainly had its chances in each overtime to win the game, and who knows what would have happened even if the foul called on Bartram had been called on Graham.

But with Bartram (70 percent from the charity stripe) at the line for two free throws and the Lions holding a two-point lead with just 18 ticks remaining, I like Penn State's chances.

Sure everybody makes mistakes. But try telling that to Bruce Parkhill.

The Lion Coach will probably lose sleep over the loss for quite awhile. But in the same respect, I'm sure he couldn't be prouder of his team.

It would have been real easy for a young team, coming off a loss in which it blew a 15-point lead, to crawl into a shell with the No. 1 team coming to town.

Instead, every Lion upped his game a notch or two, as Penn State battled Indiana to the brink.

It was a classic David vs. Goliath confrontation. The mighty Hoosiers had steamrolled Penn State 105-57 less than a month ago. Making their first camping trip to central Pennsylvania, it was pretty much assumed that these bullies of the Big Ten would teach the new kids on the block another lesson.

Sure these upstart Lions had taken Ohio State, Purdue and Minnesota to the limit in Rec Hall. But this was Indiana.

I guess someone forgot to tell the Lions. Particularly Michael Jennings, who lit up the Hoosiers for 25 points. And Rahsaan Carlton, just your average freshman pumping in 14 points off the bench and knocking down shots with the poise of a senior. Every player who saw action made a significant contribution, and Penn State played as good a game as it could have played.

In the end, David fell one rock short of slaying Goliath. Too bad one of those rocks had been taken away by the referees . . .

Consider this sixth-man effect of the Rec Hall crowd: In the four Big Ten home losses, Penn State's been defeated by an average of just over five points a game. In four conference road losses, the Lions have been beaten to the tune of almost 24 points per game. . .

If incoming point guard Danny Earl is as good as advertised and power forward Matt Gaudio returns with a clean bill of health, Penn State will be a team to be reckoned with next season.

The emergence of Carlton should make for a smooth transition in life after DeRon. With a year of experience under his belt, center John Amaechi should be one of the top centers in the league. And Michael Jennings will move back to off-guard and battle Bartram for the starting spot. The loser makes an ideal sixth-man.