Last night, as part of a promotion to raise money for charity, the goal for the Penn State Athletic Department was to attract 10,000 students to the Nittany Lions home game against Ohio State. Unfortunately, that goal fell about 4,000 short, with many empty seats in the Bryce Jordan Center.

The Big Ten Network even stepped in to buy 1,000 of those tickets. The announced attendance was 10,956, with about 6,000 of those students from a campus that has an enrollment of over 40,000. BJC’s capacity is nearly 16,000 fans.

For most games, black curtains cover up the sections in the upper bowl of the Jordan Center. A quick check with Ticketmaster reveals that there are plenty of good seats are still available for Penn State’s next home game against Michigan State, this Saturday.

The Nittany Lions feature a starting five that would have some intramural teams salivating. A 6-foot-9 center, a 6-foot-5 power forward, and a bunch of guards who shoot mostly threes.

It also doesn’t help that their best player, Geary Claxton, is out for the season after having surgery to repair a torn ACL in his left knee after injuring it against Wisconsin back on Jan. 15.

These are the sad state of affairs for the Nittany Lion basketball team in not-so-Happy Valley.

Amazingly, Penn State led by as much as seven points with 11:57 to go in the first half after a three-pointer by Talor Battle put the Lions ahead 19-12.

Ohio State fought back and took a 28-24 lead with five minutes to play in the opening stanza when Jon Diebler drained a three-ball.

After a Matt Terwilliger dunk with five seconds left until intermission, both teams headed into the locker room with the game deadlocked at 34-all.

Penn State shot 43 percent (13-for-30) in the half while Ohio State hit 48 percent (13-for-27) from the field. Impressive numbers, to say the least, but only one team was able to keep scorching the nets in the second period, while the other went ice cold.

Of the 34 points scored by Penn State in the first half, 15 of those came on the fast break, something they were not able to duplicate in the second half due to Ohio State’s defensive pressure.

A rainbow jumper over the outstretched arm of Kosta Koufos from Columbus native and Brookhaven grad Jamelle Cornley put the Lions ahead 44-40 with 14:20 to play in the second half before Buckeyes started playing defense.

As OSU cranked up the “D,” Penn State missed their next 11 shots and committed four turnovers during a 10-minute scoring drought that allowed the Buckeyes to take control.

Ohio State posted a 16-0 run by getting eight points and a pair of threes from the best point guard in the Big Ten, Jamar Butler, to take a 56-44 lead with 5:29 to play.

As they say in Germany, “Auf Wiedersehen!”

Even though the Buckeyes won by a margin of 12, the final five minutes were still an adventure.

Penn State’s Danny Morrissey connected from downtown to pull the Lions within 61-53 with 1:34 left.

Then after taking the inbounds pass, Butler raced down the sidelines. Even though it looked like he was forced out, instead of a foul being called, the referee whistled Butler for stepping out-of-bounds.

The Nittany Lions misfired on two attempts from three-point range before Butler rebounded the second miss and was fouled.

His two made free throws put the Buckeyes up 63-53 with 52 seconds to play.

After that, it seemed like Ohio State was never going to get the ball back. Two turnovers and two fouls on the Buckeyes kept Penn State in possession on their end of the floor for what seemed like an eternity.

Cornley made the second of his two free throw attempts before a long outlet pass to Terwilliger then on to a wide-open Evan Turner for the flush finally sealed the win.

Ohio State’s shooting was too much for the Lions as the Buckeyes hit 49 percent from the field (25-for-51) and 38 percent (8-for-21) from beyond the arc.

Penn State hit just 35 percent (21-for-60) of their shots from the field, and checked 32 of those from behind the semi-circle, making a mere nine for a grand total of 28.1 percent.

Playing much better defense in the second half, the Buckeyes held the Lions to just 4-of-19 from the arc, including just five of its last 22 shots from the field.

Butler led Ohio State with 20 points and six assists. Koufos and Terwilliger both chipped in 10 points.

It wasn’t the prettiest of wins, but it was a win on the road nonetheless, something that has proved to be difficult for the young Buckeyes so far this season.

Tags: Buckeye Basketball //