INDIANAPOLIS - Southern Utah hit 8-of-16 tries from three-point range and made some key plays down the stretch to hold off a feisty, short-handed bunch of Jaguars, 56-53. Freshman Billy Pettiford led IUPUI with a career-high 10 points, eight rebounds and six steals.
Senior David Barlow had an apparent game-tying drive wiped out with 43.4 seconds left when he was called for a charging foul. Barlow went to his right and banked in a layup, but the shot was immediately negated on the call.
At the other end, Steve Barnes made it 56-53 by splitting a pair of free throws after IUPUI had to foul three times to put the guests in the bonus.
After a full timeout, Barlow had a desperation 24-footer blocked by Swaney Cooper, ending IUPUI's comeback attempt. IUPUI (8-10, 2-3 Mid-Con) trailed 52-43 with 6:48 left after Nurudeen Adepoju splashed an open three.
"We just ran out of gas," head coach Ron Hunter said. "I feel bad for our guys because we were right there. We just made some mistakes down the stretch, but those are things that we'll correct as some guys get more experience.
"I'll tell you one thing, nobody is going to want to see IUPUI come March."
IUPUI scored eight straight to make it 52-51 with 4:18 left, capped by an Austin Montgomery 14-foot leaner. The Jags had four opportunities to take the lead after Pettiford came up with his career-high sixth steal of the game.
Montgomery missed an open trey from right in front of IUPUI's bench, but Pettiford grabbed the offensive rebound. Pettiford's putback was off the mark, but the Jags retained possession when the ball went out of bounds.
From there, freshman Jon Avery missed a turnaround, but the Jags kept possession with another offensive rebound. Southern Utah finally got the ball back when Cooper picked off a pass.
On SUU's next possession, Cooper worked free on the blocks, but missed an uncontested one-handed dunk. The misfire proved to be pivotal for the T-Birds, as Justin Allen later stroked a three from the wing off a feed from Steve Barnes with 2:02 left.
For the game, Cooper led all scorers with 12 points and seven rebounds, while Allen added nine points on three triples. Barnes finished with six points, six assists and five turnovers.
Barlow, Montgomery and Avery had nine apiece for IUPUI, while Avery also grabbed five rebounds. Barlow and Montgomery had three steals each, as IUPUI had 12 steals on 18 T-Bird turnovers.
Southern Utah made up for the turnover disparity by shooting 47.7 percent from the floor and holding IUPUI under 40 percent.
"We had a lot of tired legs out there," Hunter said. "You don't want to make excuses, but we had some guys play some really heavy minutes the past two games."
IUPUI was limited to just eight players for the second straight game, while Barlow played all 80 minutes over the weekend.
The Jags built a 17-7 first half lead, thanks to eight early Southern Utah turnovers. The lead stayed at 10 at 26-16, but Southern Utah held the Jags scoreless for nearly six minutes spanning the two halves, cutting the lead to 26-24 at the break.
IUPUI hits the road on Thursday, heading to Shreveport, La. to face Centenary on Thursday night. Game time is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. from the Gold Dome. Greg Rakestraw will be on the call as pregame coverage begins 30 minutes prior.
