When Jamelle Cornley grabbed an offensive rebound, hit a tough put-back and drew a foul early in the second half, Penn State took a four-point lead and appeared on its way to another road victory.
But when Cornley missed at the foul line, it marked the beginning of a free fall that saw the Nittany Lions score three points in the next 8 minutes, 46 seconds, on their way to a 71-51 loss Thursday night at Michigan.
"They pushed us a little bit, and we got a little out of whack," Penn State coach Ed DeChellis told the Penn State Sports Network. "We didn't play how we've been playing and hopefully we'll learn from this."
Cornley stood out as the only bright spot for the Lions (17-6, 6-4 Big Ten), scoring 25 points -- one away from his career-high -- and shooting 10-for-12 from the field.
A game after knocking down shots from all over the floor against Michigan State, Talor Battle faced endless pressure from Michigan's
C.J. Lee and never found his rhythm.
Battle and backcourt mate Stanley Pringle combined to shoot 6-for-29 from the field and scored 16 points despite averaging a combined 33 per game heading into Thursday.
"They just out-scored us the second half," DeChellis said. "They deserve to beat us. They executed their offense, and we didn't do what we needed to do."
Michigan (15-8, 5-6) mixed up its defenses and helped throw the Lions out of sync by pressuring the guards with both man-to-man and a 1-3-1 zone.
In the first half, a fast-paced game favored Penn State, but the Wolverines slowed their offense in the second half and out-scored the Lions 42-20.
"The second half we were a little more patient," Michigan coach John Beilein told the Big Ten Network. "We looked for our opportunities, and we weren't playing defense the whole half."
While Cornley scored 25, Michigan's Manny Harris took advantage of the offensive opportunities and stole the show.
The star guard dazzled the Crisler Arena crowd with 28 points, seven assists, six rebounds, two steals and two blocks after scoring just four points in the first meeting with the Lions Jan. 20.
"In the second half, Coach got on me and told me to be more patient," Harris told the Big Ten Network. "Being patient got me open looks, and it got my team open looks."
Michigan's offense capitalized in the final 20 minutes, shooting 63.6 percent from the field.
In contrast, the Lions allowed the Wolverines to pull away by converting on just 24 percent of their second-half shots.
"It was hard to get to the rim, but you gotta make some shots too to loosen them up," DeChellis said. "We just didn't have it. We were out of rhythm and we let them push us out of rhythm."
