Box Score

INDIANAPOLIS - On a night when heavy snowfall was predicted for much of the Midwest, IUPUI made it rain threes inside The Jungle on Thursday night on its way to a 88-66 win over Southern Utah. The Jaguars matched their season-high with 10 threes in the first half alone, and finished with a Division I-era record 19 treys.

Junior Gary Patterson was the evening's prime sniper, hitting 11-of-15 from downtown to finish with a career-high 37 points. Patterson's 11 threes are the most by any NCAA Division I player this season and set a new IUPUI Division I-era single-game record. He missed his last two attempts of the night and ended two shy of Rodney Thomas' school record 13.

"GP was unbelievable tonight," IUPUI head coach Ron Hunter said. "He couldn't miss, and it got to be contagious. We really have a home court advantage here, and tonight we took advantage by hitting shots.

"Once we got out to that big lead, we wanted to make sure we never let them back in it. But Gary was the story. We've told everyone we're not a one man team. Even if you slow down George Hill, there are other players you have to reckon with."

IUPUI (16-5, 8-2 Summit) came out hot, getting three points on each of its first seven possessions, opening up a  21-4 advantage. Hill opened the game with a traditional three-point play before the Jags rattled off six straight triples. Patterson made his first four-in-a-row, while Austin Montgomery and Hill also chimed in with one of their own. In all, IUPUI made its first seven threes of the game. 

The lead swelled to 32-6 with just under 10 minutes left in the first half when Patterson hit a pull-up 14-footer and grew as large as 31 in the first half at 43-12.

By halftime, the score was Patterson 22, Southern Utah 22 as the Jags took a 47-22 lead to the locker room. Patterson made 6-of-7 from long distance in the first half and the Jags hit 10-of-15 (66.7 percent) in the opening 20 minutes.

Patterson opened the second half with threes on back-to-back possessions and could only shrug his shoulders in disbelief after the second found nothing but net. SUU never got closer than 20 in the second half.

Southern Utah (5-16, 3-7) didn't make its first three until 14:32 remaining in the game when Mike Josserand swished a trey from the right wing. The Thunderbirds ended the night 4-of-21 (19.0 percent) from three-point land.

IUPUI ended the night shooting 59.4 percent from three and 53.6 overall. The T-Birds limped to a 39.3 percent effort from the field. 

The Jags hardly needed Hill, the reigning Summit League Co-Player of the Week, as he had 13 points and seven assists in 31 minutes. Montgomery finished with nine on three threes and Hunter was able to give some lightly used reserves a heavier workload.

"With the big lead, we were able to rest some guys tonight," Hunter said. "Hopefully that means we'll be a little fresher on Saturday when UMKC comes to town. All in all, I thought some guys off the bench took advantage of their opportunities."

Freshman John Ashworth scored a season-high six points on two threes and senior Bill Van Senus grabbed a career-high seven rebounds in 20 minutes off the bench. 

Geoff Payne led four T-Birds in double-digits with 12 points and three others added 11. Tyler Quinney matched Van Senus for the game's top rebounder with seven caroms in 23 minutes as a reserve.

IUPUI returns to action on Saturday night on the backend of a Summit League doubleheader. The Jaguars' women's team will take on UMKC at 4:30, followed by the men's game versus the 'Roos at 7:00 p.m.. Pregame coverage on Freedom 95.9 FM will begin at approximately 6:30 p.m..