No. 10 Temple Falls To Penn State

First Penn, now Penn State.

Joe Crispin scored 18 points and hit a 15-footer with 20 seconds left as the Nittany Lions beat No. 10 Temple 65-64 Tuesday night, handing the Owls their second loss in eight days.

"He's made some big ones before," Penn State coach Jerry Dunn said of Crispin. "He's a guy that is willing to step up and take the big shot. He's a competitor. He's a winner."

Despite predictions that this was one of coach John Chaney's best teams, Temple (4-2) was coming off a 73-70 loss to Penn, the Quakers' first victory over the Owls in 16 years. Penn State (4-1) had last beaten Temple in 1991.

Penn State's second upset of a Top 10 team in two years sent fans streaming onto the court. The Lions beat No. 5 Purdue 74-63 last year.

Penn State won with scrappy play, breaking Temple's matchup zone, then hanging on in the second half after the Owls were forced into man-to-man defense. Titus Ivory, who hit four 3-pointers and scored 14 points, said Penn State spent every practice this week trying to find the open spots in the 2-3 zone.

Chaney noticed.

"We had 'em tied up A number of times, but they would dial 911 and find someone open diagonally across the court," Chaney said. "And he'd hit the shot."

Crispin

Penn State players celebrate their upset over No. 10 Temple Tuesday night. (AP)

Rasheed Brokenborough scored 13 points for the Owls, but missed a desperation shot at the end. Lynn Greer added 13 points and Quincy Wadley 12.

Temple has shown a penchant for comebaks this season -- including a 10-point rally over 3:36 to beat No. 5 Michigan State 60-59 -- but this one fell short.

"We have to show a stop sign, and we haven't done that to anybody. We were at their mercy," Wadley said. "We're not going to be able to come back every time. We're not always going to get those miracle finishes. We have to be aggressive, come out and get off to quick starts."

With Penn State up 58-56, Dan Earl drove past Pepe Sanchez on the baseline and scored. Then Ivory hit a 3-pointer to put the Lions ahead 63-58 with two minutes left.

But Sanchez hit a leaner and Lamont Barnes stole a lazy pass by Gyasi Cline-Heard and scored on a tip-in to cut the lead to one. Wadley put the Owls ahead by one point on a drive to the basket, then Crispin raced up court, drove past Sanchez and hit the game-winner just eight seconds later -- with Dunn signaling for a time out.

"After we scuffled to get back on top, we allowed the guy to go right down the court," said Chaney, who didn't appear particularly upset after the loss. "We didn't get containment."

And they didn't get a good shot off at the end.

"The coaches just told us to go out and contest the shot, not let 'em get any easy ones and that's what we did," Ivory said.

The Lions couldn't penetrate Temple's zone, so they shot over it. They shot 48 percent from the field for the game and hit nine 3-pointers in the first half.

They went on an 8-0 run to end the first half, capped by Greg Grays' 3-pointer, which put Penn State up by five points.

Penn state responded to temple's man-to-man defense with a 6-2 run to go ahead 41-28, their largest lead of the game. Crispin keyed the quick start with a 3-pointer and a drive.

Greer brought the Owls back single-handedly. First, he hit a runner, a 3-pointer and a jumper. Then he scored on a fast break and added the free throw. Then he stole the ball and threw a length-of-the-court pass to Brokenborough, who layed it in. Greer hit another 3-pointer to complete the 15-4 run and tie the score at 45.

The Lions had only one two-point basket in the first half, but they shot 53 percent from 3-point range and led 31-26.

Chaney was impressed.

"They beat us. They should be No. 1," he joked.

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