INDIANAPOLIS - Junior George Hill scored 27 points as IUPUI pulled away early in the second half en route to a 95-74 win over NAIA IU Southeast. The win was IUPUI's eighth-in-row, one shy of the program's Division I record, set in 2006.
All 11 Jaguars scored as IUPUI hit 54.2 percent from the floor and 9-of-18 from three-point range. IUPUI also committed a season-low eight turnovers while forcing IUS (8-7) into 18 miscues. IUS remained competitive, thanks to season-high scoring effort from sophomore guard Craig Bryant. Bryant hit 9-of-13 shots, including 5-of-6 from three-point range to match Hill's 27-point effort.
IUS canned 13-of-26 from beyond the arc, including its first six attempts of the game.
"Again, we're not 100 percent happy with how we played today, but it's hard to complain with the result. There's no such thing as a bad 21-point win," IUPUI head coach Ron Hunter said. "We're going to wake up Christmas morning and be 9-2 (this season). We weren't as sharp as I'd like for us to be - there's still plenty of room for improvement."
After leading 49-40 at halftime, IUPUI opened the second half with an 11-3 burst to essentially put the game away. Senior Austin Montgomery hit back-to-back threes on the first two possesions, making it 55-40 with 19:08 to play. The Grenadiers got no closer than 12 the rest of the way.
The lead swelled to 74-48 with 12:25 left as IUPUI was content to burn clock over the final 11 minutes of the game.
Freshman LeRoy Nobles scored a career-high 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting while sophomore Jon Avery posted 15 off the bench. Montgomery was the only other Jag to reach double-digits as he closed with 10.
Montgomery and Hill have reached double-figures in all 11 games this season.
Junior Gary Patterson broke out of a shooting slump, hitting 3-of-4 from three-point range to account for his nine points. Patterson also delivered a team-high four assists and had three steals.
"It was good to see Gary hit some shots, and kind of break out of that funk," Hunter said. "I thought our bench did a good job of giving us a boost today. LeRoy (Nobles) brought us a lot of energy and even guys like Adrian (Moss) and John Ashworth contributed in both halves."
IUS got 17 points from Jazzmarr Ferguson while Carlos Mitchell scored 12. Ferguson handed out a game-high six assists, but also turned the ball over six times.
After IUPUI opened with an early 10-0 run, forcing the Grenadiers to burn two early timeouts, the guests responded with some hot shooting.
IUS finished the first half at 8-of-13 (61.5 percent) from downtown and led briefly at 26-25 with 9:05 left in the half on a Ferguson layup. From there, IUPUI scored the next nine points, including seven straight from Nobles.
The two teams traded baskets on the final possession of the half, punctuated by a Nobles two-handed slam, making it 49-40 at halftime.
IUPUI will return to action on Saturday, Dec. 29 when it heads west to Saint Louis to take on the Billikens. Tipoff is slated for 8:00 p.m. EST in the first-ever meeting between the two schools. That game can be heard in Indianapolis on Freedom 95.9 FM or via the internet at IUPUIJags.com. Greg Rakestraw will call the action.
