“NEW YORK – They’re known as football schools who’ve had some games that needed the final seconds to decide.
“But on the Madison Square Garden hardwood, it really was not much of a contest.
“Penn State played its best defensive game of the season in getting up and all into the grill of Notre Dame (21-15).
“And the Nittany Lions ran around and through the Fighting Irish at the other end to take a wire-to-wire 67-59 win in the late semifinal of the National Invitation Tournament.
“The Lions (26-11) will be favored to win their first NIT title at 7 p.m. Thursday (ESPN) against Baylor (21-14), easy victors over San Diego State in the other semi.
“And it’s fair to say the Lions will have the crowd on their side. About 80 percent of an audience of a student-heavy crowd of 11,352 cheered on State on Tuesday night.
” “It was great; it seemed like a home game,” said PSU’s Talor Battle of New York state capital Albany who led the Nits with 17 points and five assists. He attracted about 60 friends and family from there and Harrisburg, his childhood hometown. “And we’ve been great at home all year.
” “It felt like one of my high school games. I fed off the energy.”
“So did the rest of the Lions. They won matchups all over the floor in building leads as high as 19 points. …”