Luckily for the Penn State men's basketball team, it is just the exhibition season.

The Nittany Lions dropped their first game of the year Friday night to Marathon 113-109 in a shootout between two guard-oriented squads.

Marathon was ahead by as much as 21 points in the second half, but the resilient Lions clawed back to cut the lead late in the game and make the contest interesting.

Behind senior guard Joe Crispin's 38 points and seven assists and full-court pressure on defense, Penn State flustered Marathon's guards.

But Marathon guards Curt Smith and David Harrison would not let the Lions take the lead, as they combined for an amazing 63 points, including 10 three-point baskets to push Marathon past Penn State.

Although Marathon, a team comprised of former small Div. I players defeated a Big Ten opponent at home in the Lions' first game of the season, Crispin said the team is not concerned because the players are still confident they will be contenders.

"I didn't expect much out of us," the senior guard said. "It was a good barometer just to see things."

Penn State used a lot of different lineups in the loss, which might have put them at a disadvantage as they were continuously coming out and then re-entering the game with different teammates.

Every member of the squad played, except for 6-foot-9 sophomore Stephan Bekale.

Penn State men's basketball coach Jerry Dunn said it was not intentional that his big man didn't see any time, but when the competitive juices starting flowing in the second half, the sixth-year coach couldn't find time for Bekale to get some minutes.

Penn State's scoring was varied, as four Lions scored in double figures, but the lead that Marathon continually stretched out throughout the first 30 minutes could not be overtaken in the end.

Crispin said the talented guards of Marathon will only help him throughout the season and that he is glad that Marathon brought such explosive players to The Bryce Jordan Center to test the Lions backcourt.

"They challenged us even more because we're not going to see guys go one-on-one the way they did," the Pitman, N.J., native said. "I thought they challenged us big time."

Penn State guard Titus Ivory said losing to Marathon isn't as bad as it looks, because different lineups were used and the team was trying to work different things in to see how they will work when the real season comes around.

The optimistic senior even said it was a rewarding game for Penn State, because the team showed heart coming back and challenging Marathon down to the wire.

"We needed some people to push us and get us ready for our upcoming season with such a tough schedule," Ivory said. "We came together as a team today, and I think that's the most important aspect of playing Marathon Oil."