Cagers win; third in NIT

By ROB AMEN
Collegian Sports Writer

NEW YORK -- The men's basketball team became the king of comebacks in the opening rounds of the National Invitation Tournament.

But for the second consecutive game, Penn State found itself having to withstand a furious rally. But this time, the Nittany Lions found themselves on the winning end.

Behind point guard Dan Earl's 17 points and four assists, the Lions disposed of feisty Canisius, 66-62, in front of a meager crowd in the NIT consolation game last night here at Madison Square Garden.

The Lions (21-11), finished third in the NIT for the second time in six years, while Canisius (21-14) settled for fourth. The win gave Penn State its fourth postseason victory, one more than the entire Big Ten conference combined.

"I know it's just a consolation game," Lion Coach Bruce Parkhill said, "but when you're out there working hard all season it's just too bad somebody has to go out with two losses."

And the Lions made sure they would not be the team to end the season with two losses.

They built a 40-29 lead by halftime and led by as many as 13 points in the second half. The Lions held a 12-point cushion with seven minutes, 55 seconds left when Earl -- who was chosen to the all-tournament team -- hit a pair of free throws.

But Canisius would make its run.

The Golden Griffins slowly chipped away at the deficit. A 16-4 run, capped by a Craig Wise dunk, tied the contest at 62 with 1:40 remaining.

Senior center John Amaechi --who also scored 17 points in his last collegiate game -- hit two key free throws with 46.4 seconds left to break the stalemate and give the Lions a 64-62 lead.

The Lions would not trail again.

Amaechi blocked a shot on the next play and Canisius called timeout. On the inbounds the Golden Griffins misfired a pair of three-pointers and a follow-up tip, and a scramble sent the ball out of bounds and into the possession of Penn State with 8.9 seconds. Canisius was forced to foul Earl.

"I think it showed tremendous character on part of the whole team," Amaechi said. "We're probably one of the most maligned teams in the country, certainly the most maligned in the Big Ten. And it says something for our character."

Earl sank two free throws for the Lions to extend the lead to four with 6.4 remaining and seal the victory.

"You just try to go up and go to the free throw line like it was any other time," said Earl, who acted as as if it was just another game.

But in the early going, it looked like the game belonged to Canisius.

Penn State fell behind by eight, 15-7, at the 13:12 mark of the first half when Canisius forward Darrell Barley -- who led the Golden Griffins with 17 points --hit a 15-foot jumper.

"I told the guys before the game I didn't think they were fired up," Parkhill said, "but after about 10 minutes they really started getting it going a little bit."

The Lions responded with an 8-0 spurt to pull even at 10:40. They extended the spurt and their momentum turned it into a 24-9 run to lead, 31-24.

Meanwhile, the Golden Griffins struggled from the field. Canisius was held without a field goal for over seven minutes in the first half, only to finally break through at the 1:12 mark and close out the half trailing by 11 points.