With the game on the line, Brandon Watkins choked, and he knew it.
In a day that saw freshman walk-on Aaron Johnson have a break-out game, Sharif Chambliss shoot just five times but score 19 points and the Lions shoot 51 percent from the field while out-rebounding their opponent 33-24, the outcome of the game came down to a missed free throw.
The Penn State men's basketball team (5-9, 0-3 Big Ten) continued its winless Big Ten season by falling to Purdue (11-3, 3-0), 82-78, Saturday in front of over 8,500 fans at the Bryce Jordan Center.
With just 13 seconds remaining and the Lions down by two, Watkins grabbed a rebound off a Purdue miss and raced down the court with the ball. He drove to the hoop and was fouled, sending him to the charity stripe with just eight seconds remaining and the score, 80-78.
Though Watkins had single-handedly kept the Lions in the game for most of the afternoon, he clanged the first foul shot off the back rim, extinguishing the excitement from the crowd.
Watkins was understandably hard on himself during the post-game press conference.
"It hurts bad," Watkins said. "I just want to apologize to my teammates and the fans who came out here today to watch the game -- I feel that I let my teammates down and I let myself down."
After a timeout to decide what to do next, Watkins intentionally missed the second free throw toward the left side of the key, but Jan Jagla was unable to retrieve the ball with the Boilermakers' Chris Booker in the way.
Booker was fouled and calmly sank two free throws to complete a 27 point, seven-rebound performance and put the Lions away for good.
It was men's basketball coach Jerry Dunn's decision to intentionally miss the second free throw, a decision that Watkins didn't agree with. He said that he would have rather made the second shot, fouled, and then try to tie the game with a three-pointer.
The other story of the game was Johnson, the walk-on forward who is seeing more and more playing time as the season wears on. Besides scoring 20 points and grabbing 12 rebounds in 30 minutes, all career highs, Johnson also won over the BJC crowd.
During the second half, the crowd erupted when Johnson jumped up from the bench to replace Robert Summers.
Johnson never doubted that he could make an impact for the Lions.
"The moment I stepped foot, I knew I could play in the Big Ten," Johnson said. "I never lost confidence in myself."
Johnson, who was sitting next to Watkins when he blamed himself for the Penn State loss, adamantly defended Watkins when it was his turn to speak.
"I don't agree with what Brandon said at all, that he should be sorry," Johnson said. "He kept us in the game with his penetrating. He did a hell of a job -- the only reason we were in the game was because of him."
A win would have been huge for the Lions, who desperately need to break into the Big Ten "W" column. It's going to be tough, as the Lions' schedule doesn't get any easier. This week, Penn State travels to Michigan State on Wednesday night, and then hosts No. 8 Illinois on Saturday.
