ATLANTA — With 4:33 remaining in Penn State's NCAA Tournament game against Temple Friday, the memories started for Joe Crispin.

At that moment, with the game all but out of reach for the Nittany Lions, the senior from Pitman, N.J, fouled out, marking the final time he would play in a Penn State uniform.

With only three points in the first half and nine in the second, the Penn State senior who, for most of his career, carried a Lions squad to a place where they had not been in 46 years.

Crispin, who ended his career as second all-time in Penn State scoring, will always be remembered for his aggressive attitude and desire to win.

"I don't like to lose," Crispin said. "Every time I go out there, I want to win."

Despite losing in his final game as senior, Crispin played the same way he played his whole career by holding nothing back.

As he walked off the Georgia Dome floor for the last time, he turned to the Penn State bench, raised his arms above his head and looked up to the sky and listened to the buzzer as backup point guard Brandon Watkins entered the game.

Maybe it was then that Crispin realized his career at Penn State was over. Maybe it was then that Crispin finally realized his career rested on someone else shoulders, barring a comeback that never came.

As he left the floor, Penn State head coach Jerry Dunn hugged his senior and whispered words in Crispin's ears.

"I don't think it has sunk in yet," Jon Crispin said. "I have no idea what will happen or what he'll do. I enjoyed it in high school when he left because then I was able to take more shots, and I had a feeling that we would be together somewhere down the line. Now we will probably never play together again unless it's three on three in the backyard. So it is going to be tough.

"I will definitely miss him, even though he drives me nuts sometimes."

The loss ended a season full of storybook wins for Penn State that started in November with a win on the road against Kentucky. It also ended just five days after knocking off one of the most storied programs in basketball history in North Carolina in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

When Crispin started at Penn State four years ago, many thought the Lions program was too big for him to handle.

Not heavily recruited by any of the major universities, Crispin proved to the many that doubted him that he was good enough to belong at major university.

He proved to his teammates and opposing players that his lack of size and quickness should not be measured on the outside, but from within.

And in his four years at Penn State, he helped change the perception of the Lion basketball.