Spartans Fall at Penn State

Feb. 2, 2008

State COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) - Penn State went 16-of-20 from the foul line in the closing minutes to upend No. 8 Michigan State 85-76 Saturday night and snap the Spartans' five-game winning streak.

Talor Battle had 17 points and David Jackson added nine - all from the free throw line - as the Nittany Lions scored their first win over a ranked team in two years.

Things looked bleak for Penn State (11-10, 3-6 Big Ten), which snapped a six-game skid, after they squandered a 10-point advantage midway through the second half when Kalin Lucas darted through the lane for a bucket to give Michigan State (19-3, 7-2) a 60-58 lead.

But the Nittany Lions fought back against one of the best teams in the Big Ten by hitting their foul shots - an unlikely route to victory given Penn State was shooting just 59 percent from the line all season.

Penn State broke a tie and took the lead for good behind free throws by Jamelle Cornley, Mike Walker and Pringle to take a 74-69 lead with 3:20 left.

The Spartans had trouble finding good shots, while the Nittany Lions kept hitting at the foul line, including four in the last 37 seconds by Pringle.

Drew Neitzel finished 2-of-10 from the field for six points. Still, the athletic Spartans seemed to hold the upper hand in talent over the Nittany Lions.

Michigan State was off to the best 21-game start in school history, but that came to an abrupt halt in an unexpectedly tense game in Happy Valley.

Lucas paced Michigan State with 18 points off the bench. The lightning-quick freshman did his best to make up for Neitzel's struggles, capping a 17-5 run with back-to-back layups to give Michigan State its 60-58 lead.

It was back-and-forth from there until Penn State pulled away at the line. Penn State finished 34-of-51 in free throw shooting for the game.

Even more impressive for the Nittany Lions was that they guys who hit some of the key free throws - the junior transfer Pringle and redshirt freshman Jackson - are both new to the club this year.

The win was quite a boost for a Penn State team that had been reeling from the loss of leading scorer Geary Claxton to a knee injury two weeks ago. They had struggled on offense since then.

Those worries appeared to go away for a while behind the pesky play of Battle, another freshman. He went end-to-end for a fastbreak layup to put Penn State up 53-43 with about 16 minutes left before the Spartans mounted their failed comeback effort.

Penn State struggled to control the more athletic Spartans inside - to wit: a pretty alley-oop pass from Lucas to Durrell Summers for an impressive dunk in the first half. Michigan State owned a 46-18 advantage in points in the paint on the night.

But Battle hit back-to-back 3s near the end of the first half that allowed the Nittany Lions to take a 42-39 halftime lead.