University Park, Pa. (December 13, 2008)—Mount St. Mary's saw its late rally fall short in a 61-56 loss at Penn State on Saturday afternoon. Trailing by 11 with four minutes left, the Mount cut the deficit to three with 51 seconds on the clock. Penn State's Jamelle Cornley scored in the post with 20 seconds left to seal the win for the Nittany Lions (9-2).

The Mount (3-6) opened the second half on a 5-0 run to grab a 27-26 advantage. Jean Cajou (Fairfax, Va./Paul VI) buried a three-pointer from the top of the key and Kelly Beidler (Virginia Beach, Va./Tallwood) converted a Jeremy Goode (Charlotte, N.C./Providence Day) pass for a lay-up that gave the Mount the one-point advantage.

Leading 40-36, Penn State went on a 10-2 streak to grab a 50-38 advantage with eight minutes left. Talor Battle scored eight of his game-high 26 points for the Nittany Lions during that scoring streak.

Penn State pushed the margin to as much as 13 points (55-42) before the Mount rallied. Trailing 57-46 with 3:33 left in the game after a Battle free throw, the Mount posted eight straight points to cut the deficit to three.

Shawn Atupem (Newport News, Va./Woodside) made a lay-up and Goode nailed a three-pointer after a Cajou steal to cut the margin to 57-51 at the 2:50 mark. After a Penn State miss, Shawn Atupem buried a jumper with 1:45 left to make the score 57-53. Atupem then drew a charge on Battle on the next possession and Goode was fouled, hitting 1-of-2 to cut the lead to 57-54.

Penn State worked the ball around on the next possession and found Cornley open in the paint for a bucket with 20 seconds left for a five-point lead. Cajou was called for a charge with 13 seconds left and Penn State sealed the win on a pair of Battle free throws. The Mount's Pierre Brown (Williamsburg, Va./Jamestown) scored a jumper at the buzzer for the final score of 61-56.

"We were able to make a few plays on the offensive end which gave us energy on the defensive side," said Mount St. Mary's head coach Milan Brown of his team's late rally."

It was the Mount's fourth-straight loss by five points or less. "It hurts in the fact that you are so close," said Brown. "It's good that we are doing a lot of things right to be in that position, but we have a lot to improve upon to get ourselves on the positive side of that situation."

The Mount held Penn State to 37 percent shooting in the game while hitting 47.1 percent from the floor. The Mount had 24 field goals in the game compared to Penn State's 17, but the Nittany Lions outscored the Mount by 17 points at the foul line to earn the win.

Mount St. Mary's hit just 4-of-11 (.364) at the charity stripe compared to 21-of-27 (.778) for Penn State in the contest. It was the third time this season the Mount has shot under 40 percent at the foul line in a game.

Atupem scored a team-high 12 points off the bench to pace the Mountaineers in the game. Goode added 11 points and four assists while Cajou chipped in 10 points and six rebounds. Battle finished with 26 points, including 11-of-13 at the foul line, to pace the Nittany Lions while Cornley finished with 18 points and eight rebounds.

In the first half, the Mount jumped to a 5-2 advantage in the early going on a Goode fast break layup and a Cajou three-pointer. The Nittany Lions answered by scoring the next 10 points for a seven-point advantage. Penn State extended the lead to 19-10 after a Jeff Brooks basket with 9:49 left in the half.

The Mount then got back into the game with a 12-2 run of its own, grabbing a 22-21 advantage after a Will Holland lay-in with 3:15 left in first half. Shawn Atupem scored six of his eight first-half points during the run. Penn State, however, scored the final five points of the opening stanza to take a 26-22 haltime lead.

The Mount hit 10-of-22 (.455) from the floor in the first half while holding Penn State to 39.3 percent (9-of-23).

The Mount returns to action next Saturday at No. 19 Georgetown. Tip-off for that game is at 1:00 p.m. at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C.

Game Notes...Penn State now holds a 5-0 lead in the all-time series...The Mount is now 0-8 against the Big 10 Conference...Six of the Mount's nine games this season have been decided by five points or less with the Mount posting a 1-5 mark in those contests.