Cornley completes a 3-point play at the line, Penn State now has a 57-48 advantage with 7:54 to play.

Tyus answers Cornley now with a big two-handed slam to get the crowd going here at the O'Connell Center. DJ Jackson misses a 3 and Florida takes control. Tyus misses a hook shot against Drew and the ball goes back to the Lions.

Cornley with a big offensive rebound for Penn State, Jackson gets the feed down low and he scores plus the foul on Tyus. Jackson's free throw rolls in and the Lions have a 10-point lead.

5:29 second half
Penn State 60, Florida 50

That will probably do it for the live blog here as other work needs to be done. Check the Collegian for a short write-up tomorrow and the Collegian Web site for a longer game story. I'll be sure to check in here later. Thanks for following along.

-Brown

***
Morrissey misses a 3 after the timeout. On the other end, Calathes draws a foul on Danny and heads to the line for 2 shots. Calathes hits 1-of-2, 52-46 Lions.

Cornley backs down into the paint and turns aroundfor 2, Calathes answers for 2 on the other end. 54-48.

Morrissey almost picks up his fourth foul on a loose ball collision but the call goes the other way. Cornley is having his way with Tyus as he ducks in, scores and draws the foul. He'll go to the line after a timeout to try to complete a 3-point play.

7:54 second half
Penn State 56, Florida 48

***
Calathes brings the ball up for Florida out of the timeout as PSU shifts to a 1-3-1 zone. Calathes misses a 3 and Florida misses a second-chance opportunity. Morrissey's 3 just rims out and Jones is stuffed again on a follow-up attempt.

Alex Tyus scores down low to end the Florida drought, we go to the under-12 timeout.

10:13 second half
Penn State 52, Florida 45

***
Battle with the lucky bounce as his deep jumper falls with the shot clock expiring. 44-41 Lions.

Calathes draws a foul on Morrissey and heads to the line for 2. He sinks both, 44-43 PSU.

What a block by Chandler Parsons as he stuffs Drew Jones. He picks up another block but gets called for a foul. Drew Jones at the line for PSU's first free-throw attempts of the game. Jones knocks down both.

After a Florida miss from deep, Battle finds Morrissey spotted up in transition, and he connects from downtown. 49-43 Nitttany Lions.

Another 3 for Stanley Pringle. Amazing how much he has heated up since his slow start. 52-43 PSU and Donovan uses a timeout.

10:53 second half
Penn State 52, Florida 43

***
Penn State to start the second half with the ball and a 33-32 advantage over Florida.

The starting five is out there for the Lions. Drew Jones committed 2 first-half fouls and played just six minutes, but he's back out on the floor now.

Good start for PSU as Cornley hits a jumper from the free-throw line. 35-32 Lions.

Florida's first-half star Erving Walker hits another 3 and the lead is back down to 1. Penn State now coming toward me on offense as DJ Jackson throws the ball in right in front of me.

Back-to-back missed 3s on one possession for Florida. Battle hits a floater down the baseline but it's taken off the board with an offensive foul.

Steal by Erving Walker and it looks like he got away with stepping out of bounds. Florida hits a 3 and the game is tied up at 37. The energy is back in the arena.

With the shot clock winding down, Pringle gets a kick-out at the top of the key and knocks down a 3 for the lead. Calathes with a deep 2 to answer and Florida gets a chance to press again. Nice job by PSU to get the ball up the floor easily this time. Jackson just misses a jumper, and Shipman hits a jumper to give Florida a 41-40 lead.

Cornley gets the feed inside and goes up strong for 2. 16 now for Cornley to lead all scorers.

The ref completely misses a call as the ball bounced off Battle's foot and rolled out of bounds, yet the ball stays with PSU.

13:19 second half
Penn State 42, Florida 41

***
Some quick halftime stats:
FGs: PSU 46.7%, UF 41.9%
3-pointers: PSU 5-15, UF 3-8
FTs: PSU 0-0, UF 3-3
Rebounds: PSU 16, UF 18
Turnovers: PSU 6, UF 7

Leading scorers:
Penn State
Jamelle Cornley, 12
Stanley Pringle, 9
D.J. Jackson, 7
Talor Battle, 5

Florida
Erving Walker, 9
Alex Tyus, 7
3 players with 4

The second half is about to start, although my updates probably won't be as frequent with deadline rapidly approaching after the game.
***
PSU gets the ball in low to Cornley, and he kicks out to Pringle on the wing for a 3. 32-30 Gators.

Another 3 for Stanley in transition, and all of a sudden Penn State has taken the lead back. That's an 8-0 run for the Lions.

Under a minute to play now in the first half after some sloppy play on both ends of the floor. Battle now patiently dribbles before hitting Morrissey. Morrissey drives the baseline but picks up an offense foul. A 3 second difference between shot clock and game clock as Calathes walks the ball up the court and Florida sets up. Florida loses control and gets hit with a shot clock violation. PSU has just 1.9 seconds to work with as Morrissey throws it in to Battle across the court, and his last-second shot just rims out.

HALFTIME
PENN STATE 33, FLORIDA 32

***
Pringle with a terrific bounce pass into Jackson, and he goes up for 2 to tie the game at 25. Calathes comes up empty again and PSU can take the lead, but Cornley's short jumper rims out.

Nice tip-in by Werner off a miss to give Florida a 27-25 lead. Erving Walker pulls up for 3 in transition and knocks it down for the Gators after a Babb miss. Florida gets a steal and Calathes finally gets his first points with an easy uncontested lay-up. 32-25 and the place is rocking here. Battle misses, but DJ Jackson gets the tip-in. May have been offensive goaltending, but the refs didn't call it.

3:42 first half
Florida 32, Penn State 27

***
An exchange of steals by the two teams, and Battle ends up with a fastbreak layup to cut the lead to 2. PSU comes up with another steal but Battle gets called for a walk. Timeout again.

7:16 first half
Florida 25, Penn State 23

***
Jeff Brooks now on Calathes, and Calathes with a great feed down the baseline to Parsons for 2. Florida's press gets PSU for the first time as 10 seconds is called. Cornley back into the game for Brooks

Calathes misses a 3, he's yet to score. He does have 4 assists already though.

Another 2 for Cornley, but Walker answers by draining a wide open 3 from the wing. Two times in a row now PSU has a complete miscommunication on defense as Walker gets a wide open 3 from the same exact spot.

8:12 first half
Florida 25, Penn State 21

***
Chris Babb now in the game for the first time. He kicks out to Brooks, who misses everything on a 3 from the corner. And another timeout.

10:01 first half
Penn State 19, Florida 17

***
Shipman at the line shooting 2 after the timeout. He sinks the first, Jeff Brooks replaces Drew Jones and Shipman also buries the second. 13-9 Gators.

After a Pringle miss from 3, Morrissey replaces Jackson. Battle-Pringle-Cornley-Morrissey-Brooks now for the Lions.

Pringle drives and kicks back to Battle for an open 3 from the corner to cut the lead to 1. Tyus gets it back to 3 on a second-chance bucket in the lane. Another 2 for Cornley, he has 8 already. Make that 10.

A terrific drive by Hodge and he sinks a floater to retake the lead 17-16. Pringle finally connects on a 3 and it's 19-17. Billy Donovan uses his first timeout.

10:52 first half
Penn State 19, Florida 17

***
In other NIT news, Baylor has beaten top-seeded Auburn 74-72 on the road to become the first team to advance to MSG. Baylor will take on either San Diego State or St. Mary's.

***
Florida controls the opening tip and we're underway here in Gainesville. Walter Hodge misses a 3 and PSU gets a chance to grab the first bucket. Cornley does just that with a short hook shot. Good thing the injured arm is his left arm. Way too easy for Alex Tyus as he beats Drew Jones and draws the foul. Tyrus knocks down the free throw and Florida goes into its full-court press.

After a Pringle miss, PSU grabs an offensive board and Cornley ends up with another short bucket. 4-3 Lions.

Walter Hodge with a quick bucket on the in-bounds pass after a Battle foul away from the ball. A short jumper for Tyrus is good and it's 7-4 Florida. On the press, Erving Walker gets called for a foul away from the ball.

Ray Shipman with an easy bucket in the lane and Florida takes a 9-4 lead. Florida's goes back into a matchup zone, but Calathes is guarding Battle on the press. Another bucket for Cornley. Getting it inside is clearly PSU's gameplan early, injury or not.

DJ Jackson with a big 3 from the corner and we're tied at 9. Jackson is guarding Calathes in PSU's man-to-man. Calathes comes open and feeds Chandler Parsons for 2.

Ray Shipman draws a foul on Drew Jones and will head to the line after a timeout.

14:22 first half
Florida 11, Penn State 9

***
Starting lineups being introduced now... Cornley left shoulder is very heavily wrapped, but he is starting.

A video is played calling the O'Connell Center the "House of Horrors," and well, it's hard to argue against that one. Florida is 18-1 at home, and a win tonight would set the school record for homes win in a season.

And we're about to get underway here. Should be a great one.

***
Among the PSU contingent here is athletic director Tim Curley to the right of me. And the cheerleaders did manage to find the place...

Still a lot of empty seats on the two ends but the rest of the place is pretty full as we get close to tip-off. Definitely not a bad NIT crowd. Good student turnout too it looks like.

***
I mentioned the lousy chant by one PSU fan earlier, but to be fair, there have been plenty of not-so-clever insults coming from the people behind me as well. That's all I'll say.

***
For some reason the Florida pep band plays the National Anthem 10 minutes before tip-off. Apparently Penn State didn't get that info because the Lions went back to the locker room beforehand. Oops.

***
A Penn State fan keeps screaming "Nick Calathes sucks." Well, that's just not true.

Calathes is the obvious player to watch for the Gators. Not only does the 6-foot-6 guard score 17.4 points per game, but he has broken the Florida single-season assists record in each of his first two seasons in Gainesville.

With his height, he will be a tough matchup for the Lions. Expect DJ Jackson to get a shot at defending him early.

***
Not that it wasn't expected, but good news for PSU fans as team spokesman Brian Siegrist informs me Jamelle Cornley is ready to go tonight.

The usual contingent of Penn State family members is seated to my left behind the bench, but I've also spotted a Penn State fan sporting a No. 12 shirt in the Florida student section. Apparently the Nittany Lions' cheerleaders are supposed to be here, but no sign of them yet. Florida's student section has filled in nicely but I'm curious to see how the rest of the place looks at game time. For a program that just won back-to-back national titles, it's understandable if the fans aren't too excited about the NIT.

Today's probably starting lineups:
Florida
G- 11 Erving Walker
G- 15 Walter Hodge
G- 33 Nick Calathes
F- 21 Dan Werner
C- 23 Alex Tyrus

Penn State
G- 12 Talor Battle
G- 11 Stanley Pringle
F- 15 D.J. Jackson
F- 2 Jamelle Cornley
C- 22 Andrew Jones

Just under 20 minutes until tip.

***
Matt Brown here, coming to you live from the O'Connell Center in Gainesville, Fla. After a 3 hour drive to my hometown of Perkasie last night, a 1 hour drive to the airport in Philly this morning before sunrise, a 2+ hour flight to Orlando and a 2 hour drive from Orlando to Gainesville, I am in my seat with about 35 minutes until tip-off of tonight's third-round NIT showdown between Penn State and Florida. The winner advances to Madison Square Garden to take on Notre Dame or Kentucky Tuesday in the semifinals.

I have a great seat on the end of the baseline press row, with only the tunnel separating me from the Penn State bench. Should be a great vantage point. Unfortunately, it's a 9 p.m. tip, meaning an extremely tight deadline for writing after the game. I will do my best to keep the live blog updated, but given that it's a one-man operation here along with the tight deadline, things will be busy.

Stay tuned.