UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Hampton University men’s basketball team made a battle of it for 40 minutes Wednesday night at the Bryce Jordan Center, but Penn State escaped with a 69-65 win in the first round of the College Basketball Invitational (CBI).

The Pirates finish the 2013-14 season with an 18-13 record.

Sophomore guard Brian Darden led the Pirates with a career-high 22 points, hitting four of his six 3-pointers and eight of 11 free throws. Sophomore guard Deron Powers added 19 points, going 8-for-12 from the floor.

The Pirates took their only lead of the night with 11:17 left in the second half, when sophomore guard Breon Key stuffed home a breakaway dunk off a Penn State miss to give the Pirates a 43-41 lead.

That basket capped off a 14-2 run for Hampton – a run that started after the Nittany Lions took a 39-29 lead with 16:19 left to play.

After Key’s dunk, D.J. Newbill answered with a jumper to tie the game at 43-43, before a pair of Tim Frazier free throws put Penn State up 45-43 with 9:19 left.

The Nittany Lions ultimately went on a 10-2 run to take a 55-45 lead with 5:43 left after a pair of free throw from Geno Thorpe. But the Pirates hung tough, slowly chipping at the deficit until Powers drained a layup with 29 seconds left to cut the lead to 64-61.

Thorpe answered with two free throws, before Powers again hit a layup to cut the lead to 66-63 with 16 seconds left. Another Powers layup 10 seconds later cut Penn State’s lead to 67-65.

But Thrope hit two free throws with four seconds left to clinch the game.

The Pirates shot 41.3 percent (19-for-46) from the floor and hit six of 14 3-pointers (42.9 percent). Hampton also shot 72.4 percent (21-for-29) from the free throw line and committed just seven turnovers.

Penn State (16-17) shot 40.5 percent (17-for-42) from the floor and held a 42-18 edge in rebounds.

Newbill led four Nittany Lions in double figures with 19 points.