The Penn State men's basketball team finished out its 2004-05 home schedule with its best effort in the last six games, as the Nittany Lions were defeated by a Minnesota Golden Gophers team that needed a victory to stay on the NCAA tournament bubble.

Penn State (7-22, 1-14 Big Ten) lost to Minnesota (20-9, 10-6), 73-69, last night in front of a Bryce Jordan Center crowd that was as into the game as much as any crowd all season.

"Look at how many people were here tonight [6,266], and it still felt like a sellout tonight, compared to when we are down 30," Penn State freshman guard Mike Walker said. "It's a lot easier to have energy when you are close, and it was fun to play tonight even though we lost."

The Lions made a valiant run in the second half, led by freshman guard Danny Morrissey's 17 points. Morrissey finished the night with a career-high 22 points and shot 6-of-10 from downtown.

Despite Morrissey's outing, Penn State couldn't handle the Gopher duo of shooting guard Vincent Grier -- 14 first-half points -- and small forward Brent Lawson, who combined for 41 of Minnesota's 73 points.

"The kid Vincent Grier did a great job tonight. He played really well for them in crunch time," Penn State coach Ed DeChellis said. "He scored when they needed him to score, he got a steal when they needed a steal, he put the game away."

Grier finished the game with 27 points and four steals and was clutch at the charity stripe, going 11-of-14 from the free-throw line.

Grier has been a tremendous find for the Gophers; the junior college transfer leads the team in scoring and shoots 48 percent from the field. The North Carolina native has been a force on the defensive end as well, averaging two steals a game, and is arguably the best on-ball defender in the Big Ten.

Both teams began the game sloppy, with a plethora of missed shots and giveaways. The teams combined for 25 turnovers in the first half.

Penn State scored just two points in the first four minutes of the game and finished the first half shooting 30 percent from the field.

The Lions made it a two-point game (15-13) midway through the half and looked to be putting forth a challenge to Minnesota.

The Gophers responded by going on 15-4 run beginning at the 9:45 mark of the first half to open up a 30-17 advantage.

Minnesota expanded its lead up to 15 points, but Penn State rallied, going on a 13-4 second-half run that tightened up what once appeared to be another blowout. Penn State cut its deficit to three at 61-58 on a layup by forward Travis Parker with 5:22 to go. That's as close as the Lions would get, however.

Penn State concludes its Big Ten slate at 8 p.m. Saturday when it visits Michigan State.