Box Score

BROOKINGS, S.D. - After an ominous start, the IUPUI basketball team got rolling in the second half on its way to a convincing 70-56 win at South Dakota State on Thursday night. Junior George Hill, The Summit League Preseason Player of the Year, continued to stake his claim to the postseason honor as well by scoring 19 of his game-high 23 points in the second half. 

The win was IUPUI's fifth straight.

Hill scored 13 straight points during a 3:43 stretch as IUPUI (18-5, 10-2 Summit) went from a seven-point lead to a 55-41 edge with 7:46 to play.

"I thought in the second half, the best player in the league came out to play," IUPUI head coach Ron Hunter said. "I was on him pretty hard at halftime and I was on a lot of our guys hard at halftime. 

"At the end of the night, it's hard for me to complain. We shot 52 percent, 50 percent from three and 81 (percent) from the free throw line."

Ultimately, Hill's torrid stretch helped erase an otherwise forgettable opening 30 minutes of basketball. 

The Jaguars started and ended the first half slowly, but led for the majority of the opening 20 minutes. IUPUI hit just 2-of-11 from the floor over the first six minutes, but trailed just 7-5 with under 14 minutes left before halftime. A brief 7-2 run gave the Jags an 18-13 lead with 6:45 left in the first half. 

IUPUI stretched its advantage out to 26-19 but saw the Jackrabbits score the final five points, making it 26-24 at the break.

The Jaguars opened the second half with five straight turnovers, but South Dakota State (7-16, 2-10) only converted them into four points to take a 28-26 lead. The teams then traded buckets as SDSU took a 32-31 lead on a Ben Beran jump hook with 15:40 left. It would be the Jackrabbits final lead of the game as the Jaguars countered with nine straight. 

Sophomore Jon Avery opened the run with a 15-foot jumper. Two possessions later, reigning Summit League Player of the Week Gary Patterson was fouled on a three-point attempt and hit the ensuing free throws. After an SDSU missed three at the other end, senior Drew Conner hit a short jumper off a feed from Hill to make it 38-32. 

Avery capped the run with a layup, making it 40-32 with 12:05 left.

SDSU's Michael Loney briefly stopped the bleeding with a three before Hill went off offensively. 

Hill finished the game hitting 8-of-12 from the floor and added five rebounds and four assists in 39 minutes. Avery dropped in 13 points in 20 minutes off the bench and Patterson and Austin Montgomery scored 11 each. 

Montgomery also grabbed a game-high eight rebounds as the Jags outrebounded the taller Jackrabbits 30-24. 

Clint Sargent and Kai Williams led the hosts with 13 apiece. 

As a team, IUPUI hit 26-of-50 (52.0 percent) from the floor and an efficient 5-of-10 (50.0 percent) from three-point range. On the flip side, SDSU shot just 38.3 percent from the field and 29.2 percent from distance. The Jackrabbits did however make all 13 of their free throws and both teams turned the ball over 15 times. 

"I'm going to find something we have to get better at, despite the outcome," Hunter said. "Tonight, it was our turnovers. We have to cut down our turnovers.

"But, we're going to continue to do what we do. My basketball team is a good team. We were flat tonight, but I think we'll play better on Saturday."

IUPUI will close its two-game road trip on Saturday in Fargo, N.D. versus North Dakota State. Tipoff is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. EST. Pregame coverage on Freedom 95.9 FM begins at 7:30 p.m. as Greg Rakestraw handles the play-by-play duties. IUPUI won the previous meeting between the two schools, 60-46 in The Jungle on Jan. 10.