Golden fleece

Lions lose to Gophers in NIT final game 79 -72

NEW YORK -- When Titus Ivory knocked down his second 3-pointer of the game with just over three minutes remaining in the National Invitation Tournament final to bring Penn State within four of Minnesota at 64-60, it brought the Nittany Lions back to life.

But it was too little too late as the Golden Gophers (20-15) outlasted Penn State (19-13) 79-72 last night to capture the NIT title at Madison Square Garden.

Minnesota advanced to the final with its semifinal win over Fresno State while Penn State defeated Georgia 66-60 to set up an all-Big Ten finale. Last night was the third time this season the two teams have met.

The two teams split during the season setting up last night's rubber match. In the second game between these teams, Lion forward Jarrett Stephens scored a career-high 27 points and grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds. Last night Penn State was without its potent power forward.

The Lions felt the loss of Stephens harder than it let on. When Stephens fell hard to the Garden floor during the semifinal game against Georgia on a controversial foul everyone seemed to feel the impact. But it was his teammates who got hurt.

Stephens has initially been diagnosed with a sprained left anterior cruciate ligament. Without him Lion coach Jerry Dunn needed to get extra minutes out of his starters and key reserves to pick up the slack.

"There are some things that Jarrett does, different things that may have made a difference." Senior guard Pete Lisicky said. "Of course it would have helped to have an extra body. As far as fatigue goes, I know I was fatigued out there. I think a couple of other guys were huffing and puffing as well."

Lisicky opened the scoring for Penn State when he made the second of his two free throw attempts. Neither team showed its best stuff nor made any significant run to take a commanding lead. Fifteen lead changes and five ties pretty much summed up the back-and-forth first half with Minnesota leading 35-30.

In the second half Penn State appeared to find its mark when Calvin Booth opened the half with a bucket to bring the Lions within two. That was followed by a Pete Lisicky 3-pointer to tie the game at 35.

Then Lewis and Clark decided to explore.

Quincy Lewis and Kevin Clark navigated their way to the hoop en route to scoring 27 of Minnesota's first 29 points in the second half. Lewis, a 6 foot 7 junior, took matters into his own hands and went on a 12-5 run himself. Jacobson scored the other two points and it wasn't until the 2:41 mark that Jacobson scored again ending the Lewis and Clark expedition.

Penn State was led by center Calvin Booth and forward Gyasi Cline-Heard with 14 points each. Cline-Heard received valuable minutes filling in for Stephens. Dunn and the Lions were upset with the loss, but content with their season.

"It was a great effort, we just fell short of our goals," Dunn said. "They have a lot to be proud of. They did an outstanding job representing this University."