Road woes continue for IU

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- Somewhere amid all of the resignation-rumor mayhem Wednesday night, a basketball game was played.\nBut it certainly didn't offer IU too much of a bright side.\nThe Hoosiers (13-9, 5-6 Big Ten) fell 71-68 to conference bottom-dweller Penn State at the Bryce Jordan Center, putting them into a position where they would likely have to win four out of their last five games to make the NCAA Tournament.\n"We've just got to win four games now," IU coach Mike Davis said. "The magic number for us is to try to get to 17 wins."\nLong faces were the trend, as most the IU players tried to make a swift exit to avoid being questioned.\nDavis said the reports don't affect his players.\n"I'm quite sure they didn't read anything during the game," he said.\nThe Nittany Lions (12-11, 4-8 Big Ten) fought a largely uphill battle in the first half, having to launch an 18-5 early run to climb back into the game. But after halftime, the game was fairly heavily contested, as eight lead changes came in the final 20 minutes.\n"We got off to a great, great start," Davis said. "The problem came when we started putting them on the free-throw line."\nThe night culminated appropriately with a potentially game-tying 3-pointer from senior guard Marshall Strickland. Down 71-68, Strickland caught an inbound pass and launched a 3-pointer to tie the game with nine seconds remaining. The shot clanked off the front of the rim.\n"He got a great look," Davis said referring to the shot's length.\nPSU shot 51 percent from the field, with Travis Parker and Geary Claxton leading the effort on a collective 14-for-24 shooting. The duo combined for 41 points.\n"If we get those two guys going, we've just got to get some guard production," PSU coach Ed Dechellis said, who got 17 points from his backcourt.\nFour Hoosiers reached double figures in the contest, with 27 total points from their two leading scorers -- sophomore guard Robert Vaden (17) and senior forward Marco Killingsworth (10).\nThe remaining two are more much more noteworthy.\nSophomore guard A.J. Ratliff put up his best performance since December's game against Kentucky. The former Indiana Mr. Basketball scored all 11 of his points in the first half.\n"A.J. probably played his best game in the first half," Davis said.\nStrickland rounded out the group with 11 points, which pushed him past former Hoosier great Isiah Thomas on IU's all-time scoring list. Strickland moved to No. 41 all-time with 977 points.\n"We're just trying to play, execute our game plan and win games," Strickland said. "We need a couple wins to get that feeling back"