It took ten years for Penn State to make their way back into the NCAA Tournament. It took less than a second for them to head back home again.

Juan Fernandez’s off-balance jumper over Tim Frazier with .4 seconds left lifted the seventh-seeded Temple Owls over Penn State 66-64 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament West regional.

Fernandez, who coming into the game only was averaging 10 points a game, exploded for 23 on the day, 17 of which came in the first half. His backcourt partner, Ramone Moore, added 17 in the second half to also total 23 points for the game.

Penn State held as big as a nine-point lead in the first half, but Jeff Brooks picked up his second foul with 10:45 left and Temple took advantage, coming back to take a two-point lead into halftime.

Brooks returned to the floor at the start of the second half, but a minute in, he came down clutching his shoulder after attempting a shot block. It was the same shoulder he dislocated in the Illinois game about a month ago and he was lost for the rest of the game.

Penn State held tough, though, trading baskets for the entire second half until Talor Battle hit a three with :14 left to tie the game at 64. But then, Fernandez got the ball on the wing, leaned under Frazier and knocked down the 16-footer with 0.4 seconds left on the clock.

Penn State had a timeout left to use, but they inbounded the ball right away instead and Frazier’s three-quarter court shot came up short and the Nittany Lions were sent home packing at the hands of Temple, just like they were a decade ago.

Battle led Penn State with 23 points and David Jackson added 14. The only non-senior starter, sophomore point guard Tim Frazier, impressed once again with 15 points and seven assists.

For as much grief as I gave Penn State throughout the season, they were the better team today. They did what they needed to do by limiting forward Lavoy Allen (three points, 11 rebounds), but Fernandez stepped up and filled the void that was left. It also didn’t help having your second leading scorer only play ten minutes due to foul trouble and injury. But they fought harder than I had seen all year.

Penn State finishes the season at 19-15 while Temple moves on to play 2-seed San Diego State in the third round on Saturday.

Cleaning the Glass

• This was a fairly clean game with Penn State attempting only six fouls shots and Temple attempting 15.
• Khalif Wyatt, Temple’s sixth man, scored ten points.
• Andrew Jones, Battle and Frazier all played all 40 minutes of Thursday’s game.