After the game all Jon Crispin and Titus Ivory could do was stand and watch from the top of the scorer's table.

Crispin and Ivory watched some of the 8,953 screaming fans swarm The Byrce Jordan Center floor after Penn State (13-6, 3-5 Big Ten) upset Illinois (16-5, 6-2 Big Ten) 98-95 in overtime last night.

After losing by 32 points to Illinois 11 days ago, Joe Crispin promised the Illini players a better game when they came to Penn State and last night, Crispin and the rest of the Penn State men's basketball team delivered.

"Give Penn State credit; they beat us tonight," Illinois head coach Bill Self said. "Ivory played great for them and we can't take anything away from Penn State. They made the shots they had to and we couldn't stop them."

Despite being down by as much as 10 points midway through the first half the Nittany Lions mounted a comeback and climbed back into the game when Jon connected on a three-pointer to end the half.

"That was big for us," Joe Crispin said. "It's a lot easier to go into the half down by four instead of seven or eight."

In the first half Illinois dominated the frontcourt with Brian Cook paving the way with 22 points, three blocks and four rebounds. The Illini came out firing by connecting on 20 of their first 29 shots. But got some of their front court players in trouble, which forced Self to bench some of his players at the end of the half.

"We lost the game with three minutes left in the first half," Self said. "We had a lot of mental breakdowns during that stretch and couldn't make the stops that we needed to."

One of the players that Self was referring to was Ivory and Crispin who caught fire at the end of the first half and remained sharp in the second half.

Although Ivory went down towards the end of the first half with an ankle sprain, he returned in the second half and caught fire by knocking down 20 of his 27 points. During one stretch he had three straight three-point shots to give the Lions the lead 63-62 at midway point in the second half.

Throughout the evening Ivory attacked the Illionis defense forcing them to commit a foul or enabling himself to get the open look.

"I've been known as a slasher and I feel I can go one on one without just about anybody," Ivory said. "I know people have had hard time guarding me."

With 10 seconds left in the game Ivory stepped to the foul line and knocked down a pair of free throws that gave Penn State a three point lead that looked to seal the Illini fate. However, Illinois guard Frank Williams hit a three point shot in front of Tyler Smith to send the game into one more frame.

In the overtime period the Lions continued to pound the ball inside with Gyasi Cline- Heard and Ivory taking charge inside.

Although Illinois battled with Penn State throughout overtime Tyler Smith and Joe Crispin knocked down a pair of crucial free throws to end any chance of an Illinois comeback as Penn State went on to win 98-95.

"It's a big win us," Crispin said. "But it's a win and we can enjoy it now, but we will have to be ready for Indiana."