Carr rises again, lifts Lions to 69-68 win

NEW YORK - Tony Carr did it again.

Trailing by a point with only seconds remaining, the Nittany Lion sophomore point guard drew a double-team at the top of the key and delivered an easy dish to Josh Reaves for an easy flush. The basket gave the No. 7-seed Nittany Lions a 69-68 lead and, for the third time in one season, Penn State toppled the No. 2-seed Ohio State Buckeyes.

Only 3.1 seconds left for Ohio State to respond after the bucket, a prayer 3-point attempt didn’t even leave C.J. Jackson’s hands before the game clock expired.

"Every time Ohio State made a run and it looked like they were going to extend the lead, you know they stepped up, made a big play. Tony hit a big 3, makes a great decision at the end there," said head coach Patrick Chambers. "Shep yesterday takes a big-time charge. Today he gets the steal. Give Ohio State a lot of credit. Diop took over there and he went on a little scoring run. But these guys stood tall. They really did. They stuck together, really believed in our foundation of defending and rebounding."

Though the Nittany Lions created and held onto a lead throughout the first portion of the second half, earning the win was anything but easy.

Led by a Keita Bates-Diop explosion beginning with baseline dunk midway through the second half, a Nittany Lion in-bounds pass to Shep Garner bobbled out of the senior guard’s hands and into the possession of Buckeye senior Andrew Dakich, who then called timeout. Out of the break, Williams popped his layup to tie the game at 46-46 and cap a 6-0 Buckeyes.

What’d been a tightly guarded Penn State lead throughout the second half, suddenly, became a back-and-forth slugfest between the two teams.

Like he'd done throughout the latter half of the Big Ten schedule and again Thursday in the quarterfinals, Carr rose to the occasion.

Bullying his way toward the basket, the sophomore guard drew a Dakich foul on a made jumper. Hitting the freebie, the Lions built back a 5-point advantage that had evaporated.

The very next possession, the Nittany Lions dealt another blow to the Buckeyes. The shot clock nearing zero, junior forward Lamar Stevens coaxed Jae’Sean Tate into a trap on the perimeter. Catching Stevens’ hand on the shot release, Tate was whistled into his fourth foul with nearly eight minutes left in the game, the Nittany Lions leading 54-49.

Williams’ three gave the Buckeyes another lead, but Carr again responded with his own, trading punches back and forth. Another Williams jumper put the Buckeyes back ahead 62-60, but a Garner drive produced another Penn State trip to the free throw line with 4:11 remaining.

Unwilling to relent, Bates-Diop drew another foul on Reaves, but for the second time in as many trips on the one-and-one the Buckeyes came away empty. The missed opportunity set up the game's tense final minutes.

The Nittany Lions will face the winner of Purdue and Rutgers for a 4:30 p.m. tip. This is the first return trip to the Big Ten Tournament semifinals for Penn State since the program's most recent NCAA Tournament appearance in 2010-11.