Knight Unhappy Camper as Indiana Wins : College basketball: Top-ranked Hoosiers hold off Penn State in two overtimes, 88-84.

Those weren’t bears, just the Penn State Nittany Lions who nearly ruined Bobby Knight’s camping trip to Happy Valley.

Helped by a controversial call, Knight’s top-ranked Hoosiers tied Penn State in the closing seconds of regulation play and went on to beat the Lions, 88-84, Tuesday night on Brian Evans’ basket in the second overtime.

“If I was a fan, and I’m not, I’d be rooting for Penn State because they deserved to win,” said Knight, who complained when Penn State was admitted to the Big Ten that going to remote State College was a camping trip.

“It’s a shame Penn State had to lose this game. We didn’t match Penn State’s intensity, and we didn’t match their play.”

The controversial call against Penn State, 6-12 overall and 1-8 in its first Big Ten season, helped Indiana (21-2, 10-0) overcome a 68-64 deficit late in regulation. With 17 seconds left, Penn State’s Greg Bartram broke away from Chris Reynolds for a layup that would have made it 70-66, but was charged with a foul for pushing off.

However, television replays showed that Reynolds grabbed Bartram’s jersey. Penn State Coach Bruce Parkhill was visibly upset by official Sam Lickliter’s call.

“We’ve been going through things like that this year,” Parkhill said. “I’ll tell you something, we’re going to be competitive and all right. We’ll get to the point where the calls don’t make a difference.”

Indiana’s Greg Graham was fouled as he attempted a three-pointer with three-tenths of a second remaining in regulation. He missed his first free throw but made the next two to send the game into overtime.

Penn State got the last shot in the first overtime, but it was an air ball, and the Nittany Lions hurt themselves in the second overtime by making only three of eight free throws.

With 6.5 seconds left in the second overtime, Evans made a baseline shot for his only basket of the game to give the Hoosiers an 86-84 lead.

Indiana’s Damon Bailey intercepted a Penn State pass and was fouled, making two free throws with 1.4 seconds remaining.

Penn State lost by 48 points last month at Indiana.

“It’s really a shame,” Parkhill said. “I wish there was some way I could take the pain away.”

Knight, who brought three Army teams to State College in the 1960s and 1970s, said he hadn’t changed his “camping trip” assessment of visiting Penn State.

“It’s still a damned long way to come out here,” he said.

Calbert Cheaney scored 24 points for Indiana, including 10 in the extra periods. He had 10 points in the first nine minutes of the game before the Lions’ zone defense collapsed on him.

After forward Alan Henderson and center Matt Nover fouled out during overtime, Cheaney sparked Indiana’s outside game by hitting two three-pointers. Todd Leary and Bailey also made three-pointers in overtime, when Penn State led by as many as six points.

Penn State’s Michael Jennings scored 22 points but missed three of four free throws in the second overtime. John Amaechi, who missed a desperation three-pointer at the end of the first overtime, had 19 for the Lions. Graham scored 18 points for Indiana.

Penn State made 63% of its shots, Indiana 45%.