Penn-Texas game updates

DALLAS - Follow today's NCAA Tournament action live on The Buzz.

FINAL: Texas 60-52. The season comes to an end with a last hurrah as senior Eric Osmundson says goodbye with one last three-pointer with 14 seconds to play. Zoller and Danley say goodbye as seniors Greg Kuchinski and Ebede take the court. The buzzer sounds and we'll see you in November.

0:49 (second half): Texas 52-45. Jaaber banks a three-pointer, but Osmundson misses a driving layup with a minute to play, and Penn is in foul mode now.

1:29 (second half): Texas 51-42. Trading free throws won't be enough, as both teams are knocking them down. Jaaber misses badly on a three, and Danley has the ball stripped from him twice in one possession, then Tucker converts after an offensive board. Time is running out.

3:49 (second half): Texas 45-40. A priceless face from Dunphy as Osmundson's big three rims out. That would have been huge, instead, Daniel Gibson takes the ball to the hole for two straight easy layups and Aldridge will go to the line after the media timeout. Slipping away.

5:53 (second half): Texas 41-40. Brian Grandieri is really keeping Penn in this game. After Jaaber misses a layup on a fast break, Mr. Everything is there to clean up the mess for the easy two. A smart timeout by Dunphy, and Penn can take the lead on this possession. Surfing the Web, we found that Penn is the main photo on ESPN.com. "Upsets brewing," reads the headline. Still a way to go, but if Penn could somehow win this game, tonight jumps right into the discussion for biggest first-round upset in NCAA Tournament history.

7:48 (second half): Texas 41-36. Some nifty passing by Zoller and Danley underneath led to an easy layup, and Osmundson knocked down a big three, but Texas is playing superbly on the offensive end. They don't want to let the Quakers get any closer.

9:33 (second half): Texas 38-31. Aldridge is taking over and not even breaking a sweat. Two drives and dumps have left Aldridge with two easy layups and Texas with a seven-point lead.

11:38 (second half): Texas 34-30. This half in a nutshell: Jaaber turns around four feet from the hoop, finds no one guarding him and proceeds to fire up an airball. Eric Osmundson answers P.J. Tucker's layup for his first points of the game, and Brad Buckman's offensive foul gives Penn the ball after we return from a media timeout.

13:02 (second half): Texas 31-28. New signs of life delivered by Brian Grandieri on a three. But if there's one thing Penn hasn't been able to do all season, it's make foul shots, and David Whitehurst just missed two more.

14:46 (second half): Texas 31-25. Penn's condition is quickly moving away from serious and bordering on critical. Thirty-five seconds of offense is generating no looks at the basket and the four straight Texas free-throws are waking up this crowd.

15:56 (second half): Texas 27-25. After a subdued first half, Longhorns fans are coming to life as LaMarcus Aldridge converts Texas' first transition layup off a long rebound. A Zoller fould puts Aldridge on the line for two free throws. Danger time for the Quakers in a hostile environment.

17:28 (second half): Tie 25-all. Eric Osmundson calls the "Bucknell" out-of-bounds play. Maybe a little good karma in this building after the Bison's win earlier today over Arkansas.

19:30 (second half): Texas 25-23. What a halftime speech by Rick Barnes. Penn comes out and Zoller misfires badly on a three. Then Gibson comes down and calmly knocks down a triple.

Halftime: If you had told me Penn would be winning at the half despite shooting 28 percent, I'd say you have to cool it on the St. Patrick's Day celebration. But the stat of the night is Penn shot 6-for-14 on threes and 1-for-11 on twos. Zoller leads with nine points and Jaaber has eight.

Halftime: 23-22 Penn. David Burrick's contribution to tonight's buzz: "This is brilliant coaching. If this is Dunphy's last game, he's going out on top." Long possessions. Playing under control. A huge athletic mismatch is the only thing keeping Texas in the game. Note that this is the same gameplan that the DP crew devised at Hooters last night. Stats to come. Go crack open a cold one, and enjoy your endless halftime, presented by CBS' $6 billion contract.

0:37 (first half): 22-all tie. Doing his best shooting guard impersonation, Zoller knocks down another three to give Penn a 19-18 lead. And then another to make it 22-20. With a little fist pump. Our biggest key for Penn coming in was that the shooters had to be hot. And Zoller is heating up. But against Texas runs are never easy, and tonight is no exception as the Horns are keeping up.

3:41 (first half): 16-all tie. Bad news for the Quakers as Longhorns big man Brad Buckman knocks down a three off an inbounds pass. But Jaaber comes right back with a runner, a deflection on defense and an incredible save. Ebede whacks P.J. Tucker in the mouth for a foul as we head to media timeout.

6:30 (first half): 14-13 Penn. Penn takes the lead again as sixth man Brian Grandieri hits his first bucket: a three-pointer.

7:30 (first half): 13-11 Texas. Hangin' around. Zoller's three narrowed Texas' lead to two. We see our first of Friedrich Ebede since his groin pull in the Harvard game.

10:01 (first half): Possible NCAA violation sighting. The NCAA has banned all cheerleaders from performing pyramids more than two levels high in the wake of a scary fall by a Southern Illinois cheerleader in the Missouri Valley Conference championship. Penn's pyramid certainly looked to everyone on press row to have three levels.

10:51 (first half): 9-8 Texas. Jaaber, who has gained more confidence as this first half has gone on, hits two free throws and then Penn goes with the press, forcing a turnover, and a David Whitehurst three gives the Quakers their first lead. But then it's Aldridge again with a mid-range jumper. Is the gameplan to let him score 40 and stop everyone else? We'll see.

12:58 (first half): 7-3 Texas. Finally, Penn gets on the board as Eric Osmundson passes up a contested layup, kicking it out to Ibrahim Jaaber for a three. But then, Penn does the one thing it absolutely cannot afford to do, as Mark Zoller blows an easy layup. Aldridge has six of Texas' seven points and is having his way on the baseline.

15:00 (first half): 3-0 Texas. Penn appears to be playing this game the right way and shortening the game by lengthening the possessions. Of course a 30-second possession goes for naught if it ends in a turnover.

15:42 (first half): 2-0 Texas. For the second game in a row, Penn reaches the first media timeout still scoreless. Both teams look timid offensively on their first few possessions with the Quakers turning it over three times on their first five trips. LaMarcus Aldridge has a clear advantage over Mark Zoller and Steve Danley in the post, and he opened the scoring on an early turnaround bucket.

Pregame: Welcome to Texas. I don't care what Rick Barnes says about home-court advantage, but this is Longhorns country. More than half the crowd is decked out in burnt orange with pinky and pointer fingers in the air making the ubiquitous Hook 'em gesture.

Starting lineups:

Texas
G Kenton Paulino (6-1, Sr)
G Daniel Gibson (6-6, So)
F LaMarcus Aldridge (6-10, So)
F Brad Buckman (6-8, Sr)
F P.J. Tucker (6-5, Jr)

Penn
G Ibrahim Jaaber (6-2, Jr)
G David Whitehurst (6-3, So)
G Eric Osmundson (6-5, Sr)
F Steve Danley (6-8, Jr)
F Mark Zoller (6-7, Jr)