Big Red roll over Marathon

Junior forward Kirk Haston called it the "Noblesville bounce" that sealed the game. Freshman forward/center George Leach said he was praying as the ball hit the rim. And junior guard Dane Fife called it "the Big Red roll."\nRegardless of how it got in there, sophomore guard Tom Coverdale's three-pointer in the final minute led IU to a 79-75 win before 12,201 fans Friday evening at Assembly Hall against Marathon Oil. The game was the Hoosiers' final exhibition contest before they face Pepperdine Tuesday in the first round of the preseason NIT Tournament.\nThe game was closer than expected, but with Haston's game-high 30 points and game-high 14 rebounds, IU was able to win. Interim head coach Mike Davis said the team wasn't focused and came out playing soft.\n"I don't know what they were thinking about," Davis said. "They weren't thinking about basketball, I can tell you that. We're fortunate to win the game because we played bad, but at the same time, to play bad and win, we'll take that".\nThe Hoosiers were down 75-74 when Haston swatted Marathon's center Mark Ashman's shot. With 22 seconds remaining, Coverdale, of Noblesville, Ind., took a chance on a three-pointer from the left wing. It bounced off the front of the rim and dropped, giving IU a 77-75 lead.\n"Before that timeout, (Davis) told me that if I had the open shot to take it, and that gave me all the confidence I needed," Coverdale said.\n"Obviously, I got a lucky bounce, too, but I'll take it. Sometimes, that's the way it goes."\nWith 3.5 seconds left on the clock, Fife made his eighth steal of the night and drew a foul. He sank both free throws to seal the game. Fife finished the game with 10 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.\n"Steals just seem to come naturally to me," Fife said. "My main focus was to come out tonight and not make so many turnovers. I had a stupid one at the end."\nThe IU offense struggled at times against Marathon's zone defense, which it played for the majority of the game. The Hoosiers shot less than 50 percent from the floor in both halves and surrendered 22 turnovers.\n"They played zone and that scares just about every team," Leach said. "That gave us a lot of problems with getting open shots, but once we started penetrating and finding open men, we came out on top."\nThe majority of IU's success came in the second half, when Davis began to develop play inside and take advantage of Haston and freshman forward Jared Jeffries, who led the Hoosiers in the first half with 11 points. Jeffries ended the game with 14 points, but his presence in the lane was a major asset to Haston, who scored 26 of his points in the second half.\nDavis said he used Jeffries inside because he may play there again Tuesday.\n"Jared missed some easy baskets because he's used to playing outside," Davis said. "With him and Kirk inside working, it takes a lot of pressure off of Kirk, just strictly posting up. So Kirk got a chance to move and flash some. It worked out OK."\nWith IU down 57-53 and about nine minutes remaining, Jeffries missed three chances at a layup under the basket. But Haston grabbed the rebound, made the shot and drew a foul. He missed the free throw, but Coverdale nailed a three-pointer to give IU a 58-57 edge with about 8:30 left on the clock.\nThe Hoosiers were down by four points entering the second half. A steal by sophomore Kyle Hornsby set up a jumper for Haston to open the scoring for IU in the second half. IU was ahead 39-35 when Marathon guards Curt Smith and David Harrison nailed consecutive three-pointers. \nHarrison led Marathon Oil with 21 points and 10 rebounds. \nFife regained control of the game with another steal and Haston finished the play with a hook shot.\n"I told Kirk coming out of halftime, '(We're) going to get you going, we're going to get you the ball,' and that's exactly what we did," Fife said. "Kirk did a great job of putting it in the basket. Their zone was kind of soft and we felt we could go inside with our big man and take advantage of our their big man."\nWith 2:49 left in the game, Haston was fouled while hitting a jumper. He completed the three-point play, giving IU a 74-71 lead.\n"Coach Davis was telling us to try and get the ball to the post in the second half," Haston said. "He told us that if we didn't start doing something in the first three or four minutes of the game that he was going with a smaller lineup and I really didn't feel like watching the game in the second half. I had to start being a little more aggressive and once I got the hot hand, coach Davis kept designing stuff to get it into the post for me."\nIt wasn't until the final nine minutes of the game, that the IU offense began to click. Fife said the team was preoccupied with Tuesday's game.\n"The problem with us is we're looking forward to Pepperdine," Fife said. "We weren't focused on Marathon Oil and beating them. We're worried about Pepperdine. That's who we're thinking about. That was our problem tonight." \nSophomore Jeffrey Newton did not play because of a sore achilles tendon. He is expected to return to practice Tuesday.