Down 36-27 in the first half, Penn State regrouped quickly on defense as all five members of the team slapped the court in unison, as they've done since Ed DeChellis took over as head coach.

Unfortunately for the Nittany Lions, it was one of the few times all week they actually had five guys on the court at the same time.

After a week of practice where the Lions couldn't even play five-on-five in practice because of injury, they dropped their second and final exhibition game to Team Nike Elite 90-78 last night at the Bryce Jordan Center.

"I'm glad we've got 13 days to prepare for Georgetown," DeChellis said. "We really looked very tired and very sluggish out there tonight. We've got a lot of work to do."

Plagued with injury throughout the week, DeChellis was forced to play with only six players on Thursday and Friday and even pressed assistant coaches James Johnson and Hilliary Scott into action in practice.

Despite being two of the walking wounded, freshman guard Marlon Smith and sophomore swingman DeForrest Riley-Smith turned in two strong performances in the losing effort.

Riley-Smith quietly worked his way to an impressive, all-around night, falling just one rebound short of a triple-double.

For the second straight preseason game, Smith led the Lions in scoring, as both he and fellow guard Brandon Cameron scored 17 points.

The flashy play of Team Nike was too much for the Lions, however, as they held the lead for the majority of the game, moving the ball inside and out with decent success. Guards Lionel Armstead and Jeff Boschee both exploded, going a combined 11-for-17 from behind the arc and scoring 25 and 19 points, respectively.

The turning point came with six minutes remaining in the second half, just a minute after Cameron gave the Lions a rare lead off of a running basket. Nike switched to a zone defense and promptly went on a 17-3 run that took the lead and the game from the Lions.

"We knew they played some zone," Cameron said. "But it was a different look for us. We had some open shots, but we didn't take them. We didn't knock down some shots."

In his first game action, freshman guard Ben Luber looked rusty, having only practiced for a few days since suffering a concussion in the week before the first preseason game. Luber struggled with his shooting, going 2-for-14 from the floor, including missing all four of his three point attempts.

Despite the loss, Team Nike coach Glenn Sergent, whose team played the Lions last preseason, saw some improvements over last year's team. According to Sergent, the biggest difference was the composure the Lion showed.

"They were really disciplined on the court," Sergent said. "They really ran their stuff well. The problem was that midway through the first half, we knew what their stuff was."