Years from now, after senior forward Travis Parker has graduated, he'll be able to see the final moments of the men's basketball team's 66-65 win at No. 6 Illinois on Saturday.

Cue up the video of the game he called the "high point of his life," and watch as he grabs a rebound, puts up a short-range shot -- good! -- all in vivid motion.

The bucket cut through nearly 40 minutes of trailing the Illini to give Penn State the lead and, eventually, a historic victory.

"My mom and my dad already asked me, 'Hey, you gotta get a game tape of that,' " Parker said.

But though his last shot was a big breakthrough, Parker finally broke through in a bigger way.

After a stretch of sub-par play, he put together a whole performance the team has needed from its lone senior.

In 38 minutes, Parker scored a team-high 21 points and grabbed five rebounds, shooting 8-for-11 and 4-for-5 from 3-point range.

He hadn't played that many minutes in the past three games, and perhaps for good reason -- 4-for-26 shooting, as well as nine points and 15 rebounds total.

The numbers do enough explaining as Parker admitted to having a bad stretch, and Penn State coach Ed DeChellis agreed.

"Shooting percentage is way down, he wasn't making shots, turning the ball over," DeChellis said. "He was really down on himself; he was losing confidence."

But Parker found it Saturday.

He said he prepared no further than wanting to go out and play and "just shoot the ball."

In doing so, he provided a different kind of leadership to a young Nittany Lions team.

The roster contains three juniors and 12 sophomores and freshmen, leaving Parker with a clearly defined role.

He said he talks to the team and keeps it pumped up, though it doesn't always show statistically.

While Penn State doesn't live and die by Parker's performances, a good one certainly helps. It last showed in the stat box Jan. 14 vs. Iowa, when his 19-point, 10-rebound double-double nearly led the Lions past the Hawkeyes.

"We need another guy to do some things," DeChellis said. "He's a guy who can do it. He's proven in the past he can do things."

Last year, in his first season at Penn State after transferring from junior college, Parker averaged 11.4 points and 5.4 rebounds per game, with similar numbers this year -- 10.3 points and 5.2 rebounds.

So if you had to draw up who would sink the winning shot for Penn State, you might have penciled in 3-point specialist and sophomore guard Mike Walker. Or leading scorer and rebounder, sophomore forward Geary Claxton.

But it was Walker's missed shot that fell to Parker, who asked DeChellis if he could go and rebound that play.

For much of the game he needed to run back on defense to prevent Illinois' potent transition offense from getting easy baskets. It was Parker who put it back up, just shooting the ball.

"It was exciting. I don't even know how to explain it. It was great," Parker said of the final cathartic moments and historic victory.

But more importantly to Parker and DeChellis, it came at the tail end of a whole performance. DeChellis said one shot doesn't validate how well you play in the game, which Parker admitted was a good one.

"I really did step up and help the team win," Parker said. "I'm not going to say it was all me by myself cause Geary had a hell of a game, too."

But for the first time in a while, Parker had a hell of a game, and his senior performance on the floor equaled the need of senior leadership.

And as he stood trying to put into words what the game meant, how "I wanted to cry. I couldn't even cry," you knew he'll be watching the videotape one day.

And not for the final 8.5 seconds, but the whole 40 minutes.