There's not much of a defining line when it comes to one 10th of a point. But this weekend for the No. 5 Penn State men's gymnastics team, the line was very clear.

It was the difference between second place and a Big Ten championship.

Penn State won four of six events in the team competition, but a weak performance on the high bar and an outstanding last event by the Buckeyes led to Ohio State winning the Big Ten championship for the third straight season, beating the Nittany Lions by .100 of a point, 217.750-217.650.

Both the Buckeyes and Lions finished more than two points ahead of host No. 6 Minnesota (215.250), followed by No. 2 Michigan (214.350), No. 7 Illinois (211.900) and No. 9 Iowa (210.000).

The Lions weren't able to secure any hardware in the individual finals, either. Although they did get second-place finishes from junior Tommy Ramos in the rings, and third-place finishes from sophomore Casey Sandy in the pommel horse and junior Derek Helsby. Junior Vladi Klurman also finished fourth in the pommel horse.

"It was terribly disappointing to not win," senior Matt Cohen said. "No one held back."

Penn State got season-high performances in the parallel bars (37.350), and the still rings (38.300), as well as a strong performance in the floor exercise (36.600), which has given it some trouble in recent weeks. Despite a low score in the pommel horse (34.650), the Lions still finished first in the event.

It was instead the high bar, a Lions' weakness from earlier in the season, that did them in. Penn State struggled with its routine and staying on the bar in general. The most telling being the 6.900 from Cohen himself.

"The overall performance on the high bar was the one thing that cost us," Cohen said.

But Ohio State didn't fair much better, staying near the bottom of the standings for most of the night. An outstanding floor exercise in the last event catapulted the Buckeyes into clinching their third consecutive Big Ten Title.

"I told them our floor has to be better than Penn State's rings," Ohio State head coach Miles Avery said.

Avery's team responded with a 38.250 on the rings, including a 9.8 from sophomore Eddie Hay, his first event since suffering a foot injury last February.

"You got to give credit where credit is due," Cohen said. "They were the better team that night."

Penn State now will switch its focus on to the National Championships in two weeks at Rec Hall. The team now has a full agenda of things to work on for before April 12, most notably the high bar and the little things.

"Just try to clean up small deductions that add up," Cohen said.

Lions head coach Randy Jepson said that the team is still trying to work on landings and also trying to work on staying in the vaulting zone when dismounting off the vault and working on deductions, because judging becomes more strict during this time of the season.

Although it was a disappointment for the Lions, they still remain focused on winning the National Championship and say that this will not become a distraction.

"I'm not dwelling upon this," Cohen said. "It's not my concern now."

But Jepson said it best when he described this weekend.

"We were capable of winning," he said. "We didn't."