Win raises tourney hopes

Senior guard Marshall Strickland cemented his place in IU lore Wednesday -- in more ways than one.\nOn the night, Strickland became IU's 40th 1,000-point scorer, led the Hoosiers to a 69-65 win over Penn State and kept the team's NCAA Tournament hopes alive. The senior wingman scored nothing but 3-pointers, shooting 7-for-11 from deep, including an NBA-range three that put IU ahead for good. \n"We can exhale now," Strickland said. "It feels like we got a little monkey off our back and we can gear up for Sunday."\nReaching 14 wins secures IU of at least a .500 season, which would qualify them for a bid in the National Invitational Tournament, should the Hoosiers fail to make the Big Dance. But dancing is certainly still on the Hoosiers' minds.\n"I think with the wins that we had early in the season, if we can just prove that we're a team that hasn't given up and a team that is still fighting, with 17 wins, I think we get in," Strickland said. \nStrickland's seven 3-pointers marked a career high and represented more than half of IU's 15 threes on the game. The Hoosiers only scored six field goals from inside the arc, five coming from senior forward Marco Killingsworth. The Auburn transfer scored 14 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead IU.\n"Me and Strick were talking, you know, and I said 'I sat out a whole year, I just ain't going to let it go down the drain like that'," Killingsworth said.\nFor one of the few times this season, IU dominated the rebounding category, grabbing 38 to Penn State's 26. For much of the game the Hoosiers had twice as many rebounds as their \nopponents. \nTwo primary contributors on the glass came off the bench in the form of junior Rod Wilmont and sophomore A.J. Ratliff. Both guards grabbed seven rebounds and combined for six of IU's 15 offensive boards. Those offensive rebounds led to 17 second chance points.\n"It's been a long time since both (Ratliff and Wilmont) played with energy," IU coach Mike Davis said. "I thought tonight both guys did a great job."\nThe 38 rebounds helped IU's cause, and the 16 turnovers may have hurt it, but the real story of the evening remained the long ball. IU's 33 3-point attempts surpassed last year's total against North Carolina for third all time. And the 45 percent shooting from deep was reminiscent of earlier in the season.\n"We're a team that needs to make open threes," Strickland said. "When we make those, we open up everything for Marco and all the other guys."\nPerhaps no shot was bigger on the night than Strickland's final bucket of the evening. Penn State had just tied the game at 63 a piece with a shade over a minute remaining. With the shot clock dwindling below 10 seconds, Strickland held the ball about four feet beyond the arc and lunged forward before stepping back and squaring up.\nThe senior launched the shot over Penn State's Ben Luber and watched it sink through the net. The game was never tied again.\n"He was guarded, he pulled it, and the senior made a big shot," Penn State coach Ed DeChellis said. "That's what seniors do this time of year."\nThe Hoosiers will welcome No. 16 Michigan State to Assembly Hall Sunday. Davis called it a "big, big game," as the Hoosiers will be coming off a win for the first time in two weeks.\n"It feels good to be breaking out of that eggshell type \nfeeling," Ratliff said.