It seemed like an eternity, yet happened so fast.
The ball hung on the rim, unsure of its destination after Talor Battle muscled his way to the rim around a pair of bigger Illinois defenders.
Seconds ticked away, Battle's 14th and 15th points of the night dropped through the net and 0.3 seconds later the 13,091 white-clad fans in the Bryce Jordan Center stormed the hardwood -- hugging, shouting and embracing the former stepbrother of Penn State athletics after the Nittany Lions' improbable, come from behind 64-63 win over the No. 23 Fighting Illini (23-8, 11-7 Big Ten).
"It was up there for awhile, wasn't it?" a relieved Ed DeChellis quipped.
A mere five minutes earlier, the Penn State coach had reason to believe his team would not defeat its fourth ranked opponent of the season and match its highest win total since the 1995-96 campaign.
Jamelle Cornley left the game with a shoulder injury, the Lions trailed by 10 and the window of opportunity on their NCAA tournament hopes were dwindling away by the second.
But a furious rally that featured an uncharacteristic seven-for-seven Lion effort from the foul line and five quick points from Stanley Pringle set the stage for the game's final moments.
With Penn State (21-9, 10-7) trailing by a point and just 10 seconds remaining, Battle lost control of the ball near the 3-point line and saw it go into the hands of Illini guard Chester Frazier.
After a timeout, D.J. Jackson immediately fouled Mike Davis, who missed the first free throw of a one-and-one situation.
Cornley, who emerged from the locker room to a thunderous ovation at the 3:41 mark, grabbed the rebound in visible pain and handed it off to Battle, his co-captain.
Determined not to duplicate his previous failure on Penn State's previous possession, Battle drove around a pair of defenders, threw up a shot in traffic over two more and watched it sink through the basket for the game's winning points as the Lions tied the school record for Big Ten wins.
"I'm gonna make it up to you, I promise," Battle said he told his teammates after his previous turnover.
The night was billed beforehand as the biggest game in the BJC's history, with Daryll Clark taking center-stage prior to the tip-off to remind the raucous crowd what he and his football teammates did to another group of Illini across the street in the fall.
And when the final horn sounded, the Penn State quarterback was on the court again, this time blending in among the chaos that ensued following the Lions' last regular season home game.
"This is unbelievable man!" Clark shouted over the deafening ruckus. "I mean, to take the fans like the 'White-Out' at Beaver Stadium and bring it over to the BJC is unreal, and for the game to end that way ... "
His voice tailed off.
"Nothing like it man."
