UNIVERSITY PARK — For one of the first times this season, Penn State men’s basketball coach Patrick Chambers talked about his former Boston University squads after the game.

“When we missed shots, we grinded,” Chambers said. “We didn’t let missed shots affect our effort, our free-throw shooting.”

The implication was that his current squad wasn’t able to shake off a night of dismal shooting like the Nittany Lions had Wednesday.

Chambers confirmed as much in his next breath.

“We’ve got to get there,” he said. “We’re just not there yet.”

That was evident throughout in a 61-57 loss to Lafayette in the Bryce Jordan Center.

Penn State (6-4) dropped its second straight home game and lost to a Patriot League team for the first time in 26 games by shooting 29 percent in the second half and 33 percent for the evening. The Nittany Lions buried only three of their 23 3-point attempts. Leading scorer Tim Frazier missed all 12 of his shots from the field and finished with three points.

The Nittany Lions cut what had been a late 10-point deficit to two on four different occasions in the final five minutes but turned the ball over twice in the final 20 seconds and didn’t make things any easier for themselves at the line, missing 10 of their 26 free-throw attempts.

“We make four more free throws and we’re in overtime right now,” Chambers said.

The Leopards (4-5) weren’t exactly a model of offensive efficiency themselves. Lafayette shot 31 percent and missed 11 of 13 threes in a 24-point second half and gave the Nittany Lions a gift when it called a timeout it didn’t have with 10.4 seconds remaining and the Leopards clinging to a 59-56 lead.

Frazier was able to hit just one of the two free throws after the ensuing technical, though, and senior guard Jim Mower hit a pair of free throws with six seconds left to make it a two-possession game.

“Obviously it wasn’t pretty,” Lafayette coach Fran O’Hanlon said. “We did what we needed to do at the end of the game.”

Mower and guard Seth Hinrichs had 14 points apiece for Lafayette and Nick Petkovich added 13 off the bench. Hinrichs and Petkovich had four 3-pointers apiece.

Jermaine Marshall led the Nittany Lions with 20 points, freshman Ross Travis had 12 points and eight rebounds (he was 5 of 5 from the field but 1-of-7 at the free-throw line) and Cammeron Woodyard had 10 points off the bench.

Penn State played without freshman guard Trey Lewis, who aggravated an ankle injury he'd had earlier in the season this week.

Other than Travis, though, no one in a white jersey could buy a shot Wednesday. Matt Glover was 0 of 6 from the field. Marshall was 5 of 13. Woodyard, Frazier and Billy Oliver — the team’s three cocaptains — were a combined 1 of 13 from the arc.

When Frazier drove the lane, the Leopards’ 2-3 and 1-3-1 zones collapsed on him and, although the Nittany Lions grabbed an incredible 20 offensive rebounds (they finished with a 47-26 overall edge on the boards), they wound up with just 15 second-chance points.

“I think our defense kind of confused them at times,” O’Hanlon said. “It didn’t look like they wanted to play against a zone.”

Penn State used some three-quarter-court pressure to try to rattle Lafayette, but the veteran Leopards committed only 10 turnovers.

The Nittany Lions led 7-0 after Frazier’s two free throws two minutes into the game but the Leopards used a 13-2 run to take a 24-16 lead with 8:40 left in the half and led 37-32 at the break. Penn State was 1 of 13 from the arc and 9 of 17 from the line in the period.

No Penn State players were made available to reporters after the game. The Nittany Lions will visit Duquesne at 7 p.m. Saturday before taking a week off for finals.

Their coach, who said he had figured his team was in for a tough game against a veteran squad, especially after coming off Sunday’s physical loss to Mississippi, was grim and to the point in his post-game remarks.

“We made too many mistakes defensively and offensively,” Chambers said. “We’ve just got to continue to get better.”

Notes: Frazier had nine assists, five turnovers and two steals in 34 minutes. It was just the second time he's failed to reach double figures this season. … Walk-on guard Nick Colella had two points on 1-of-4 shooting in eight minutes off the bench. He missed all three of his 3-point tries. … The Nittany Lions are averaging 67.7 points in their six wins this season and 55.3 points in their four losses.

Jeff Rice can be reached at 231-4609.