Hoosiers stay alive

INDIANAPOLIS --With 8:15 to go in the second half and IU and Ohio State tied at 58, the Hoosiers took the lead with the unlikeliest of candidates.\nJunior Mark Johnson, a former walk-on, hit a three-pointer and helped lead the Hoosiers (14-14) to an 83-69 win over Ohio State (14-16) in the opening round of the Big Ten Tournament.\n"I'm just playing within the offense and seeing what happens," Johnson said. "I didn't realize what the score was. I got the pass. I was open, and I stroked it. It took a lot of pressure off of me and made me feel more comfortable out there."\nJohnson finished with a career-high 13 points, shooting 3-6 behind the arc. In three years at IU, Johnson had only scored 11 total points.\nBut Johnson wasn't the only unlikely hero in the game. Junior guard Ryan Tapak dished out a career-high 11 assists, and junior forward Mike Roberts played 20 minutes and scored six points.\n"I thought Tapak and Johnson and (junior forward) Mike Roberts did a great job of getting us into our offense and really executing," Davis said. "It was the first time this year we've looked like a basketball team."\nDavis hinted earlier this week at practice that different players may see some action if the Hoosiers got down early. IU trailed by as many as 11 in the first half when Roberts, Tapak and Johnson all got in.\n"I've been waiting to get in for a long time, and I'm just glad I got the opportunity," Johnson said. "Just running through the offense and cutting hard, it just opened up a lot. When I hit that first shot, it took a lot of pressure off of me. (Sophomore guard) Bracey (Wright) started hitting his shot, and everything just started flowing and started feeling real well."\nOSU coach Jim O'Brien gave credit to the Hoosiers guards and said no matter who is on the floor, you have to guard them. Sophomore forward Terrence Dials said they know those guys are good.\n"You know that if they're on a basketball team at this level, especially Indiana, they've got to be pretty good," Dials said. "They got hot. A lot of things fell for them. They played a good game."\nSome may question why Davis didn't play Johnson and Tapak more during the regular season. He too questioned himself on that. But Tapak said he has recognized his role on this team.\n"We understand coming in as walk-ons, you know that it's not your place to come in and start and play a lot of minutes, or even play," Tapak said. "That's for the big scholarship athletes -- to come in so highly rated and earn their way by playing well in AAU and high school. We just have to keep going. We have enough pride to know that if that's all we can do, is to make practice like our games."\nJohnson and Tapak have had success all season, but it was on the practice court against the starters. Today they found success in one of IU's best games of the year. Tapak said it was a kind of attitude adjustment.\n"We came in, and I think we came in with a little cockiness to us," Tapak said. "Well, we got nothing to lose, might as well go out and play as hard as we can. Ohio State's not supposed to lose to some walk-ons. So it's just a cockiness thing -- hey, let's go out and try and bust them like we do in practice every day."\n-- Contact staff writer Tyler V. Hoeppner at thoeppne@indiana.edu.