MACOMB, Ill. - IUPUI held Western Illinois to just 21 second half points and opened the second stanza with a 12-1 run to open Summit League play with a 64-47 win at Western Hall on a chilly Saturday night. Sophomore Billy Pettiford dropped in a career-high 16 points while junior guard George Hill posted his third straight double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds.

The win advanced IUPUI's (6-2, 1-0 Summit) winning streak to five games and 18-in-a-row over the Leathernecks. WIU's 47 points were the fewest by an IUPUI opponent since Jan. 6, 2000 when the Jaguars held Youngstown State to 43 points.

"I didn't think we played smart and I didn't think we played great, but we got after them defensively," IUPUI head coach Ron Hunter said. "To hold an opponent to 14 field goals is incredible."

The Jags limited Western to just 14-of-50 (28.0 percent) from the floor and 4-of-21 (19.0 percent) from three-point range.

After building a 31-26 halftime lead, IUPUI quickly pushed the advantage to 43-27 with 14:41 left.

Pettiford and Austin Montgomery opened the second half with back-to-back layups before WIU's Jerryck Owens-Murrey momentarily stopped the bleeding by splitting a pair of free throws.

Pettiford responded with a layup at the other end and the Jaguars held WIU (3-6, 0-1 Summit) scoreless on their next two possessions. Hill scored three points on four tries at the foul line on IUPUI's next trip, set up by a Pettiford offensive rebound.

Montgomery capped the 12-1 run with a three from the corner as WIU got no closer than 14 the rest of the way. In fact, Western's lone lead of the night came at 2-0 as the Jaguars scored the game's next seven points off the opening tip.

The Leathernecks got back within three but was unable to pull even at any point.

"I thought we came out sluggish in the first half, but really played some good basketball in the second half," Hunter said. "This is a mature basketball team. No one won a league road game on Thursday night, so we wanted to come in here and take care of business."

Despite hitting a season-low 44.7 percent from the field, the Jags managed 5-of-11 (45.5 percent) from deep and offset the poor shooting with a distinct 38-32 rebounding advantage.

Montgomery finished with 13 points and five rebounds while Jon Avery had 10 points and nine rebounds off the bench. Gary Patterson and Drew Conner were the only other two Jags to score with six and four points, respectively.

Owens-Murrey led WIU with 14 points while redshirt freshman James Washington added 13.

IUPUI will return home for its next three games, including next Saturday's non-conference affair with Western Michigan. Tipoff is slated for 7:00 p.m. in The Jungle while tickets are still available by contacting the IUPUI Athletics office at 317-274-5453.

That game can be heard in the Indianapolis-area on Freedom 95.9 FM as Greg Rakestraw (pbp) is on the call. It's also available via the web at IUPUIJags.com. The game can also be viewed as part of the SummitTV package as Scott McCauley (pbp) and former Jag Angelo Smith (color) call the game.