STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Lafayette used a controlled effort to churn out a 61-57 win over Penn State on Wednesday night. The Leopards held the Big 10's leading scorer, Tim Frazier, to three points and 0-of-12 from the field. On the other end, Jim Mower, Seth Hinrichs and Nick Petkovich scored in double figures while Rob Delaney distributed a career-high nine assists.


Mower did the bulk of his work at the line, converting 8-of-9, including two free throws in the final seconds to seal the victory, the first for a Patriot League opponent against Penn State since the league's formation in 1990-91.


In the opening minutes, Penn State jumped out to an 8-0 advantage before a pair of Hinrichs' three's started things. The Leopards pulled out to a 20-16 lead on consecutive three's by Petkovich. The senior's first long ball put Lafayette on top for good at 10:35. Freshman forward Dan Trist followed with a pair of buckets extending the lead to 24-16 as part of a run of 10 straight for the Leopards.


Lafayette led 37-32 at halftime. In the opening 20 minutes, Lafayette hit 7-of-17 from three while Penn State shot a 1-for-13 clip from beyond the arc. The Nittany Lions made up for it with 11 offensive rebounds, outmuscling Lafayette 26-13.



In the second half, Willen picked up his third foul at 12:57 and went to the bench with Lafayette leading 49-41. The Leopards stretched the lead to 10 (51-41) on Les Smith's dribble handoff to Joey Ptasinski, who stepped in and drained an 18-footer. The bucket forced Penn State to call a timeout with 11:40 remaining following Lafayette's 7-0 spurt.



Out of the timeout, Penn State responded with a 6-0 run, cutting the Leopards' lead to 51-47. In that stretch, Willen picked up his fourth personal and went to the bench for a three minute span. Trist's layup at 7:07 briefly stopped PSU's momentum, but then the Nittany Lions added two free throws and a bucket to make it a two-point game with 4:35 showing.



After the teams traded a pair of free throws, Hinrichs used every part of the rim on a three in front of the Lafayette bench to push the lead to five with 3:17 to go. The triple came off a feed from Delaney and gave Hinrichs his best scoring output in a Lafayette uniform.



Two Penn State possessions later, Frazier penetrated the Lafayette defense and kicked to Jermaine Marshall for three of his game-high 20 points. Lafayette led 58-56 with 2:11 left as Penn State took a timeout.



On the other end, Mower made a slashing move to the hoop, but his layup wouldn't fall. Petkovich fouled Marshall on the rebound, but Marshall, who was 9-for-11 from the line, missed the front end of a 1-and-1.



Clinging to a two-point lead, Hinrichs missed a three and then Frazier missed a layup and Mower ripped down the board with less than a minute left. The Leopards called their final timeout with 46.7 seconds left and on the ensuing possession, Hinrichs fired up a three ball from the corner that was down, but then rimmed out to Marshall.



Petkovich stole the ball from Marshall and was fouled right under the hoop, sending him to the charity stripe. Petkovich made one-of-two and Lafayette led 59-56 with 17 ticks left.



On the defensive end, Willen stole the ball from Frazier. The resulting scrum for the loose ball nearly led to a tie-up, but Petkovich called for a timeout. The Leopards had already used their final of five stoppages and were assessed a technical foul. Frazier made one of two to cut Lafayette's lead to 59-57 with 10.4 seconds remaining.



The Leopards inbounded after the made free throw and Mower was able to break away before getting fouled. He calmly iced the game, making both free throws in the double bonus situation.



The Leopards made 16-of-20 (80%) from the line for the game while Penn State went 16-for-26. Lafayette was outrebounded 47-26. Petkovich managed eight boards to go along with 13 points and Mower netted 14 in the win. The Nittany Lions shot 3-for-23 from beyond the arc against the Leopards' zone.


Dexter native Alan Flannigan, while only getting seven minutes on the court, showed great improvement in his defensive game. The freshman was able to come up with a steal and defensive rebound in the contest.


Lafayette, who snapped a three-game losing streak, travels to Sacred Heart on Sunday for a 3:30 p.m. matchup.