Battle's late heroics lifts Nittany Lions past No. 23 Illinois

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/05/2009 - University Park, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Penn State is quickly turning into a basketball school, as Talor Battle's leaning bank shot in traffic with three- tenths of a second to play lifted the Nittany Lions to a resume-building 64-63 victory over No. 23 Illinois, capping a season sweep of the Fighting Illini.

Known for ages as the home of Joe Paterno and 110,000-seat Beaver Stadium, Penn State fans stormed the court at the buzzer of the school's biggest victory in the Ed DeChellis era. The Nittany Lions (21-9, 10-7 Big Ten) tied a school record with their 10th Big Ten victory and can take the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament with a victory over Iowa this weekend coupled with a Purdue loss.

Battle struggled to 15 points on 5-of-17 shooting, and seemed to squander the Nittany Lions' chance at victory by turning the basketball over near the top of the circle in the closing seconds.

Mike Davis was then fouled with just over eight ticks to go, but badly missed the front end of a 1-and-1, and Battle dribbled nearly the length of the floor only to find a forest of Illini defenders in the paint. He angled his body and laid the basketball off the glass with 0.3 ticks to go.

The Illini (23-8, 11-7) didn't get off a shot, dropping its second straight contest.

Stanley Pringle scored 20 points on this birthday, and Jamelle Cornley added seven points and seven rebounds in his last home game.

Demetri McCamey led the Illini with 16 points and seven assists, Mike Tisdale donated 12 points with six rebounds and Chester Frazier had 11 points in defeat.

While comparable in its competitiveness, the second contest between these two teams had a distinctly different feel than Penn State's 38-33 victory two weeks ago.

The Illini scored just 15 first-half points in that contest, but reached that scoring plateau with 12:45 left in the first half. Frazier's pullup with just under eight minutes to go gave the Illini a 25-15 edge.

The Nittany Lions battled back to a 31-29 deficit on Battle's layup, and Cornley's free throw just before the horn kept the margin at two points, 34-32.

Illinois scored more points in the first half (34) than it did the entire game in Champaign (33).

Another marvel was Illinois' absence at the free throw line. Illinois shot its first free throw in the season series with 14:27 left in the second half, a total of 65 minutes, 33 seconds until it shot free throws against Penn State.

Illinois led 60-50 on Calvin Brock's tip-in with just over five minutes to go, but the Nittany Lions dominated down the stretch.

Danny Morrissey was fouled on a three-point attempt and made all three on the next offensive possession. Pringle's baseline jumper moments later cut the deficit to 61-55, and Battle's two free throws matched Dominique Keller's layup for a 63-57 game with 3:41 to play.

Pringle's three with 1:49 to play cut the margin to a one-possession game, and David Jackson's free throws with 58 seconds left made the score 63-62.

The frantic finish ensued from there.

Game Notes

Penn State shot 43.4 percent from the field and scored 24 points in the paint...The Illini matched the Nittany Lions in the paint and shot 48.2 percent, however they hit only 2-of-7 free throws...Illinois still leads the all-time series, 21-11.

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An important American Idol betting lines recap from February 20 Guys episode. The 12 men came out flat overall with Blake Lewis appearing to have the early edge after the first hour and a half.

Rudy - was quite good singing "Free Ride" to start off.  Randy was not impressed though.  Paula thought he started off fantastic.  "Never had anyone stop off so lively" said Paula but Simon (who does not like Rudy) does not feel he has a distinct voice and was not impressed either. 

Brandon was a little pitchy according to Randy and Paula agreed.  Simon said he was a good singer but the song was "too safe" and he needs to make an impact.  He was listed at +1200 odds or $1200 paid out on a $100 bet should he win the competition. 

Big favorite Sundance came in with a flat version of "Knights in White Satin" and the judges let him have it, including Paula.  Randy claimed the song was out of pitch throughout.

Korean American - and a Jenny Woo favorite - Paul Kim was up next.  Another pitchy flat one but Randy said he still liked his potential.  Kim at +3000 odds was said to have sung a "third rate version of that (George Michael) song" according to Simon Cowell.  He sang "Careless Whisper".

22 year old Chris Richardson was up next.  He was listed with +1100 odds coming in.  He got the best response from the judges though Simon did not believe the vocal was that great. 

Nick was boring and pitchy.  Simon didn't think he was that bad though and predicted he would be back next week.  Nick Pedro was a big +3000 dog coming into this competition. 

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Phil - this season's military favorite - came into this competition with +1200 odds to win the competition.  He was the last to perform.  He was certainly strong enough to get through this stage of the competition and perhaps the best one after a shaky start. 

Tomorrow night, the ladies perform and I sure hope they do a better job than the boys.  Check out all the American Idol betting odds here.

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