Soon after students made their way past the kids sledding outside, and filed into the previously empty Bryce Jordan Center an hour before game time last night, it was evident -- if the first few chants at the Buckeyes were any indication -- that many were intrigued by freshman center Greg Oden.

But as the Penn State men's basketball team overcame a 21-point halftime deficit to play for the improbable win on its final possession, the 7-foot, 280-pounder was regulated to an afterthought.

Instead, the largest assemblage of students at a basketball game this year, many of whom took advantage of free admission announced earlier yesterday, were left talking about how the Nittany Lions were a Mike Walker three-pointer away from knocking off the second-ranked team in the country.

After scoring just 19 points in the first half -- 10 of which came in the opening four minutes -- Penn State racked up 43 in the second, nearly doubling the Big Ten leading Buckeyes' output during the same period.

"If you look at the second half, we completely killed him," Walker said.

However, in the first half it was completely the other way around. Aside from the Lions' play during the first four minutes, Penn State's eventual comeback looked incredibly unlikely.

Senior guard Ben Luber started the game off with a three-pointer and Geary Claxton caught a pass in the paint from Milos Bogetic and dunked as Oden stood to his right, eliciting some of the loudest cacophony of sounds heard at the Jordan Center all season.

Three minutes later, though, Ohio State began a 16-0, six minute run, and quickly looked like the elite team that has only lost games this season to North Carolina, Florida, and Wisconsin.

The Lions headed into halftime, risking ultimate embarrassment on national television. So that raises the questions, what happened at halftime, and how did whatever occurred carry over into the second half?

"A lot goes through your mind at halftime," Penn State head coach Ed DeChellis said. "I didn't know that if we walked back out and the students would be gone."

DeChellis didn't reveal those thoughts to his players though as he entered the locker room after the Lions talked amongst themselves.

"In the locker room, we really stuck together," said sophomore forward Jamelle Cornley, who finished with 14 points. "People threw out some ideas. Whether it was a good idea or a bad idea, we listened to each other ... and Coach DeChellis came in with a lot of positive energy which is always good."

Penn State quietly kept pace to start the second half. Then, with Oden on the bench with 11 minutes to go, David "Mooch" Jackson and Geary Claxton, who had a team-high 19 points, hit back-to-back threes, giving the Lions a long, sought-after confidence boost.

"They started making shots," Ohio State coach Thad Matta said. "They caught fire."

As Penn State made nearly 14 of its 30 second half shots, the thought of upset entered the minds of those in attendance and it was evidenced as they rose to their feet as the Lions cut an 11-point deficit with six minutes left to two before Walker's final shot.

For a half at least, Penn State, now riding a 10-game losing streak, gave snow-braving fans and themselves a reason to believe.

"If we don't believe in ourselves," Cornley said, "We could end up losing that game by 50."