CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- Talor Battle arrived at Virginia's John Paul Jones Arena struggling to find his shot and reluctant to try and force things for Penn State.
He's not looking any more.
Battle scored 28 of his 32 points in the second half and had four assists, leading the Nittany Lions to a 69-66 victory against the Cavaliers in the Big Ten-ACC Challenge.
"Coming into this game, I was struggling from the 3," Battle said after making 5 of 9 from long range. "I needed a couple of easy baskets, and I got that at the start of the second half, and then I hit a 3, and once I hit that one, I started feeling good.
"I got a smile on my face and I really had fun in there."
Penn State (5-2) seemed to be in control, leading 55-43 with 3:46 left, but had to withstand a furious rally to hang on. Sylven Landesberg started the run with a banked-in 3-pointer and Sammy Zeglinski hit three 3-pointers and scored 11 points in the final 1:17.
Zeglinski's two free throws made it 67-66 with 5.7 seconds left, but Battle made a pair with 5.3 seconds left and Zeglinski's leaning 3-point try at the buzzer was off the mark.
Penn State coach Ed DeChellis said it's a luxury having a player like Battle who not only wants the ball in tough situations and the game on the line, but often comes through.
"He can take a game over," he said. "He's won many games for us in the final minute."
Battle did miss 3 of 6 free throws in the final 15.7 seconds, allowing Zeglinski and the Cavaliers to arouse the crowd in hopes of a victory, but his damage had already been done.
"He's really quick off the dribble," Zeglinski said. "He also has a great stroke. He can beat you many ways, and he gets to the foul line. It was a tough guard for anybody."
Penn State became the first Big Ten team to win three straight in the annual matchup of conferences. The Nittany Lions beat Virginia Tech in 2007 and won at Georgia Tech last year.
Landesberg led Virginia (4-3) with 18 points, Mike Scott had 17 and Zeglinski 16.
Penn State was 6-for-6 at the line in the final minute until Battle missed a pair with 15.7 seconds left, and then made just 1 of 2 with 9.8 seconds left as Virginia rallied.
Zeglinski made two at the line with 11.4 seconds left to get Virginia to 66-63, and after Battle's one free throw, Zeglinski hit about a 24-footer to pull Virginia within one.
It was as close as the Cavaliers could get.
Virginia led 27-21 at halftime, but Battle scored 10 points and had two assists in a 23-7 run to open the second half, giving the Nittany Lions a 44-34 lead. They led the rest of the way by a comfortable margin until Zeglinski made it interesting in the last minute.
Battle hit five 3-pointers in the half. Tim Frazier added 11 points for Penn State.
Scott scored eight points in a 14-4 run that gave Virginia its biggest lead of the first half at 27-17, but the Nittany Lions scored the last four points of the half to get to 27-21.
Scott was 6-for-6 from the field and had five rebounds before halftime.
TOP 25
No. 5 Kentucky 94, UNCA 57
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- DeMarcus Cousins scored a season-high 24 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead No. 5 Kentucky to an easy win over UNC Asheville.
John Wall added 12 points and a school freshman-record 14 assists, while Patrick Patterson had 17 points and nine boards as the Wildcats (7-0) cruised during their annual appearance at Freedom Hall.
Sean Smith led UNC-Asheville (0-6) with 19 points, but the Bulldogs were hardly more than bystanders for most of the night against the bigger, deeper Wildcats.
No. 8 Syracuse 92, Colgate 58
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Wes Johnson scored 19 points, Andy Rautins hit three 3-pointers to help key an early surge and Syracuse beat Colgate.
It was the 162nd meeting between the teams, and Syracuse (7-0) leads 117-45, including 44 wins in a row.
Johnson hit a pair of 3s and Rautins drained three more in the first 6:31. That gave him 205 career 3-pointers, tied with Demetris Nichols for fourth place at Syracuse, three behind Eric Devendorf.
Mitch Rolls, Kyle Roemer and Yaw Gyawu led Colgate (0-6) with eight points apiece. Roemer, the Raiders' leading scorer, was averaging 18.4 points.
No. 16 Georgetown 83, Mount St. Mary's 62
WASHINGTON -- Greg Monroe scored a season-high 19 points and pulled down 11 rebounds, Chris Wright added a season-high 18 points and Georgetown remained undefeated with a win over Mount St. Mary's.
Julian Vaughn had a career-high 14 points and matched his career best with eight rebounds and three blocks for the Hoyas (5-0), who built a 20-point cushion by opening the second half with an 11-2 run.
After the Mountaineers cut it to 55-44 with 9:30 left, Monroe scored seven straight points during a 17-5 Georgetown run to put the game away.
WOMEN'S TOP 25
No. 25 Dayton 73, Ill.-Chicago 46
CHICAGO -- Kendel Ross scored 16 points, Justine Ratermann added 12 and Dayton celebrated its first ranking in the women's poll with a victory over Illinois-Chicago.
The No. 25 Flyers (6-1) never trailed in winning their fifth straight -- all on the road.
Dayton sprinted to a 13-2 lead while the Flames (1-5) shot 1 of 15 from the field. The Flyers led 37-22 at halftime, extended the advantage to 25 points on Brittany Wilson's bank shot at the 13:47 mark and used a 9-2 run to open a 69-40 cushion with 4:14 to play.
