Believe the hype! Penn State tops Utah for title

Notre Dame in the tournament en route to winning their first NIT title since 2009.

“This means the whole world to me right now ,” Flavor Flav said.

They were pretty pumped in Happy Valley, too.

“I think we set the standard,” Garner said. “We preach defense and rebounding, but now we have something we can always go to. We won something. We’re champions.”

Flavor Flav, member of the seminal ‘80s rap group Public Enemy, sang along to “Fight the Power” as it blasted in the Garden and had the PSU student section chanting “Flav! Flav! Flav!” as the Nittany Lions pulled away for a program-defining championship under coach Pat Chambers.

Lamar Stevens scored 28 points, Josh Reaves had 18 and Tony Carr had 15 points and 14 assists for Penn State.

Penn State’s Bryce Jordan Center has a long-standing reputation as one of the dreariest arenas in college basketball. Penn State fans, from rappers to silver-haired alumni, packed the Garden all the way to the last row of the upper deck.

Penn State football coach James Franklin, who led the program to a Pinstripe Bowl victory in 2014, was in the house. Flavor Flav stole the show a few rows behind the PSU bench. Wearing a T-shirt that read “33 Shep Garner,” Flavor Flav danced all night in his seat. Flavor Flav popped his T-shirt and raised the roof in the same arena where Public Enemy once tore down the house.

“I think we’ve proven to teams across the country that Penn State basketball is here to stay,” Chambers said.

The clutch moment came in the third quarter when Garner — who became Penn State’s career 3-point leader in the tournament run — hit a 3 for his first basket of the game and a 49-41 lead that had the fans going wild.

“To see my cousin break records, win trophies, all that, he deserves it,” Flavor Flav said. “The whole team deserves it.”

Reaves hit a crashing layup on a three-point play that stretched the lead to 11 and Stevens wagged his tongue toward the PSU fans on a jumper that helped blow open the game.

Flavor Flav raised an arm in the air when Garner sank a 3 early in the fourth for a 68-49 edge that all but put this one away.

The final minutes certainly put some flava in your ear — half the MSG crowd chanted “We Are!” and the other half bellowed “Penn State!”

Yeah, boy!

JULIE JACOBSON — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Penn State coach Pat Chambers holds up the NIT championship trophy after Penn State defeated Utah Thursday in New York.