Another weak start. Another inspired comeback. Another heartbreaking close loss.

The trend that has plagued the Penn State men's basketball team continued Saturday. The Nittany Lions (5-13, 1-6 Big Ten) fell just short of climbing out of a 17-point second half hole against Wisconsin (12-9, 5-3) in the Kohl Center in Madison.

A three by junior point guard Brandon Watkins got the Lions within a point with 17 seconds left. However, Badger guard Travon Davis hit two free throws, and senior forward Tyler Smith's three-pointer to tie clanked off the front of the rim to give the Badgers a 66-63 win.

The loss was the Lions' fourth straight, and the ninth in their last twelve games. It was the fourth time this season the Lions had lost a game in which they had come back from a double-digit deficit to within a possession of the lead.

"It's very frustrating," junior point guard Brandon Watkins said on WMAJ-1450. "It's just real hard, to fight, fight, fight, and get that close and end up losing the game."

An anemic offensive performance by the Lions led to a 42-25 Badger advantage with 16 minutes left in the second half. However Watkins refused to let his team fold, and almost single-handedly created a 21-8 run with nine of his 19 points and three assists that led to seven more points during the stretch. The spurt got the Lions within four with eight minutes to go.

The Badgers responded with a 10-2 run to build a 60-48 cushion with just 3:44 left on the clock, but the Lions came right back with a three-pointer by sophomore guard Sharif Chambliss and a three-point play by Smith in successive possessions.

Wisconsin upped their lead to eight with 1:32 to go. A layup by Lions forward Jan Jagla cut it to six, but the Lions didn't foul on the next possession, allowing the clock to run. Badger forward Charlie Wills pulled down an offensive rebound with 39 seconds to go which could have put the game away, but he passed the ball to Lion guard Sharif Chambliss and Watkins converted two free throws on the possession to cut the lead to four.

Chambliss stole a pass by Wisconsin guard Kirk Penney on the next possession to set up the three by Watkins that cut the lead to one.

"I was pleased with the way we competed," Penn State men's basketball coach Jerry Dunn said. "I thought we gave ourselves a chance to win a game against a very good team and against a team that's very tough to beat on their home court."

The Lions were feeble offensively in the first half, shooting just 7-for-22 from the field and turning the ball over nine times. They pulled down just two offensive rebounds compared to six by the Badgers. Wisconsin junior guard Kirk Penney led the Badgers' charge with 12 of his 20 points coming in the first half, garnering them a 32-20 halftime lead.

"I just don't think we made shots," Dunn said. "We shot the ball poorly. We put them on the line, I thought they hurt us early in the first ten minutes with dribble-drive and offensive rebounding."

The Lions once again lost rebounding battle 36-27 with the Badgers pulling down 15 offensive rebounds to the Lions' eight.

Watkins led the team in points with 19, and also in rebounds with eight. Chambliss and Smith chipped in with 13 and 11 points respectively. Penney's 20 points led all scorers. Big men Charlie Wills and Mike Wilkinson also reached double digits with 15 and 12 points respectively.

The Lions continue their three-game road stretch when they journey to the Williams Arena in Minneapolis to play Minnesota at 8 p.m. Wednesday.