NEW YORK -- Perhaps Joe Paterno knew something nobody else did as he entered Madison Square Garden Tuesday night.
Outside the WaMu Theater for a pep rally before the Penn State men's basketball team's National Invitation Tournament semifinal game against Notre Dame, the 82-year-old football coach told the white-clad crowd how he handed a group of five Irish priests his rosary beads before warning the group that they would need them while rooting for Notre Dame.
Suffice it to say the Brooklyn native's forecast rang true.
The Nittany Lions outshot, outrebounded and simply outplayed the Fighting Irish from start to finish in a 67-59 win to advance to Thursday's NIT championship game against Baylor.
"It was great, it felt like a home game," Penn State guard Talor Battle said. "I felt like we were playing in front of our home crowd."
Andrew Jones got things started with a jumper, the first of many on a night when he established himself as an offensive threat -- all the while making life difficult on the other end for Luke Harangody, the two-time Associated Press All-American second teamer.
"Honestly, I just moved my feet and tried to contest all [Harangody's] shots," Jones said. "Some of them didn't fall. Usually he makes those."
From there it was all Penn State (26-11, 10-8 Big Ten), as the Lions built a double-digit lead less than seven minutes into the contest and never looked back.
The 31-18 halftime margin marked the lowest first-half output during coach Mike Brey's tenure at Notre Dame (21-15, 8-10), leaving those who hadn't been following college basketball all season to guess which conference had been the haven for a grind-it-out method and which produced the lighting-quick, NBA-like style.
Doing their best to replicate the atmosphere of the Bryce Jordan Center this season, the traveling fans and local alumni came out in full-force, providing "We Are" chants at every opportunity.
Their cheers reminded the officials with each errant whistle that this was far from a neutral-site game and even getting the patented Beaver Stadium "fast wave" going at one point in the second half.
Danny Morrissey provided a fitting microcosm for the evening when he ducked under the Irish's Zach Hillesland and drilled a prayer from the top of the key at the shot clock buzzer with 14:50 to go, triggering a bevy of applause that would make the building's normal residents - the NBA's New York Knicks - blush with envy.
Having survived a late Irish rally that cut a once-17 point lead down to four in the final five minutes, the Lions walked off the court, ready to take in New York for two more nights with one more chance to convert whatever remaining doubters they may have into believers.
