There were only three seconds left on the shot clock. But for what Demetri McCamey wanted to do, three seconds was plenty of time.

The junior guard faked out his defender and nailed a 3-pointer as the shot clock expired to bring the Illinois men’s basketball team within one of Penn State with 2:37 left in regulation. That’s after the Illini had trailed by as many as eight in the second half.

“I just had to make a play,” McCamey said. “I saw three on the shot clock, so I knew I had enough time to pump fake, and he bit for and I just shot it. Luckily, it went in.”

Just more than a minute later, McCamey hit what became the game-winning shot, and the Illini walked away victorious 54-53 in what has become a nail-biting series of games against the Nittany Lions.

Penn State head coach Ed DeChellis pointed to McCamey’s shot clock buzzer-beater as the game’s defining moment.

“McCamey, with two seconds or one second on the shot clock, shot faked a young kid and got him in the air and made the shot. If he misses the shot, it’s a different story,” DeChillis said.

On Tuesday, McCamey did not look like a player that spent two of his last three games coming off the bench.

The junior scored 25 points, dished out five assists and helped Illinois erase memories of last season’s 38-33 embarrassment at Assembly Hall. He entered Illinois’ all-time top 50 scoring list at No. 48 with 929 career points while helping Illinois to its first 4-0 Big Ten start since the 2005 season.

While Illinois (12-5, 4-0) was the favorite at home against Penn State, there has been no such thing as a sure thing with the two teams in recent years.

The Nittany Lions (8-8, 0-4) had taken the last three in a row at Assembly Hall, and the average margin of victory in the previous five games was 2.4 points. The history had both teams’ coaches expecting a close game.

“Flying out here yesterday I’m going, ‘You know this is just going to be right to the end again,’” DeChellis quipped.

A big reason why the games have been so close has been Talor Battle. The 2010 Bob Cousy Award finalist played a huge role for Penn State in its previous outings against Illinois.

“Talor, he killed us since his freshman year with game-winning layups, shots, everything,” McCamey said.

But on Tuesday, Illinois’ defensive rotation of D.J. Richardson and Jeff Jordan limited Battle to nine points – less than half what he averages.

After the game, Weber had big praise for Richardson, who he said set an example for the rest of the team in his preparation for guarding Battle.

“In his locker before the game he taped up his goals and his keys to stopping Talor Battle,” Weber said of Richardson. “The kid’s grown up. He’s learned how important preparation is, and maybe it will carry over to some other guys.”

But with time winding down and Penn State holding the ball, it wasn’t Richardson or Jordan who shut down Battle’s potential game-winner.

Mike Tisdale blocked Battle’s layup with five seconds left, and after an inbounding play McCamey forced an off-balance 3-pointer from him that went short.

“Luckily he missed it, he usually makes those shots,” McCamey said.

So after his performance against Penn State, how does McCamey – who started on Tuesday – see his recent role as Illinois’ first player off the bench playing out?

“That Sixth Man is probably over with.” he chuckled.