Cagers crash Buckeye bon voyage

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- It was Ohio State's party, but Penn State did the celebrating.

The Nittany Lion basketball team (15-11, 8-8 Big Ten) finished its regular season by beating the Buckeyes 89-85 in overtime and spoiled the final game for Ohio State (8-21, 1-15) in St. John Arena.

In overtime, Penn State took control behind the effort of their two guards. Joe Crispin, who finished with 12 points, hit two big 3-pointers and Pete Lisicky sunk four free throws to seal the game and score the final points in the arena that opened in 1956. Lisicky finished with a team-high 24 points.

The Lions, who have been less than spectacular this year on the road, faced what may have been the toughest crowd of the season. The game was sold out and all 13,276 fans were hoping to see a Buckeye victory in the last appearance at St. John. The night was filled with emotion for the Ohio State fans, who saw 127 former Buckeye players, coaches and managers take the floor at halftime.

"It was very tough to block it out," Lion forward Jarrett Stephens said of the crowd. "The thing about it is we had to take Wednesday's loss (to Michigan) and build on that and come in here and get this win."

Ohio State jumped out to an early lead and held onto it for most of the first half. Penn State took the lead with three minutes left in the half on a Greg Grays 3-pointer. But the Buckeyes regained the lead and took a 39-36 lead into halftime.

Ohio State extended that lead early in the second half to 52-39 when it went on an 11-0 run. The Lions then went on a run of their own, outscoring the Buckeyes 15-5 during the next five minutes to cut the lead to one.

The two teams traded baskets the rest of the way, with Calvin Booth's layup at 1:06 knotting the score at 76. That's the way it would read when the second-half buzzer sounded.

In overtime, Penn State took control and made the most of its scoring opportunities while the Buckeyes wasted theirs. Ohio State was 1 for 4 from the foul line in the extra period.

"Simply, they made some shots down the stretch," Ohio State coach Jim O'Brien said. "We had some opportunities we didn't cash in on."

Penn State had many impressive individual performances of its own. Lisicky was 10 of 10 from the foul line and scored the 1,500th point of his career. Booth had 12 points and five blocks -- all five coming in the second half. Stephens was his usual self, scoring 17 points and pulling down seven rebounds. Grays, although he didn't light up the scoreboard, was impressive with seven assists and zero turnovers in 28 minutes.

"I think Greg Grays really did an incredible job," Dunn said. "For a freshman on the road to handle that and make the decisions he did is outstanding. I'm extremely proud of him."

Penn State now moves on to the inaugural Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament in Chicago where, as the seventh seed, it will face No. 10-seed Wisconsin in the opening round Thursday at 4:30 p.m. The Lions split the season series with the Badgers, losing in Madison in early January and winning at The Bryce Jordan Center two weeks ago.

"They're a great defensive team but we know what we have to do to beat them," Lisicky said. "On offense we have to work together and on defense we have to help each other out."