Perhaps No. 24, Dion Lee, would have sunk the shot. No. 10, Kenneth Lee, just rimmed it out.

Kenneth Dion Lee, who had his name and number inexplicably changed by quirky Coach Ricky Byrdsong in the preseason, missed a three-point shot at the buzzer and Northwestern fell short of stealing a victory from Penn State last night, 73-71.

"That was unbelievable," Coach Bruce Parkhill said. "I was just waiting for the clock to wind down."

The Wildcats (12-12, 3-11 Big Ten) trailed 72-65 with 17.6 seconds left, but a leaning three-point shot by Patrick Baldwin, a steal by Lee, and a baseline three-pointer by Matt Purdy stunned the sparse Rec Hall crowd.

Baldwin then fouled Lion point guard Dan Earl, who made one out of two free throws before Lee's shot.

"You're just hopeful," Byrdsong said. "We just dribbled it close to the basket, and let it go."

The Lions (12-12, 5-10) had already made their own comeback in this game. Penn State shot just 25.8 percent in the first half, and trailed 30-17 with before scoring the last seven points of the stanza.

"We were sleepwalking," Parkhill said of the first half. "We were sluggish on both ends of the court."

The Lions, however, scored the first five points of the second half to cut the lead to 30-29.

Amaechi and Earl combined to score Penn State's next nine points, and the Lions had a 38-35 lead with 15 minutes, five seconds to play.

Penn State, behind center John Amaechi's 25 points, extended the lead to as many as nine, but the Lions could never put the Wildcats away.

At times, both teams looked as sloppy and raw as the winter weather. At one point, the officials caught three traveling violations within the span of a minute.

"I think both teams will look back and see plays they normally would have made," Byrdsong said.

Northwestern center Kevin Rankin, who scored 10 first-half points, was neutralized by a sagging Lion defense in the second half. He fouled out with 1:32 to play, with a total of 14 points.

Amaechi, however, just kept getting stronger. After the 6-foot-10 pivot man struggled early on, missing a number of short shots in the paint, he began to force his way to the foul line. Amaechi nailed 6 of 8 free throws down the stretch, and tied a school record with five blocked shots.

Earl, who chipped in 15 points, hit a number of key shots, including a running jump shot that went high off the backboard to give Penn State a 59-50 lead with under three minutes to play.

"He's a tough kid," Parkhill said. "He did a good job."

Notes:

-- Guard Steve Wydman started in place of Michael Jennings for the second consecutive game. Wydman once again played well, scoring eight points and grabbing six rebounds. Jennings played 12 minutes and did not score.

-- The students comprised well over half of the patchy crowd last night, and even their numbers dwindled late in the game. University Police escorted two fans in the front row out into the cold with 3:48 to play.

-- Penn State will travel to Illinois for a 3 p.m. game Saturday.