Box Score

ROCHESTER, Mich. - Trailing by seven with the ball with just over 12 minutes left, IUPUI senior sniper Gary Patterson worked free but came up short on an open three. Junior Robert Glenn laid out to recover the loose ball and later spotted a wide open Alex Young on the left wing. 

Young, The Summit League's top scoring freshman, hoisted but came up empty from beyond the arc, giving Oakland the ball going the other way. At the other end, reigning Summit League Player of the Week Erik Kangas knifed through two defenders and banked home a runner while drawing a foul.

He splashed the free throw to push the Oakland lead back to 10. 

The exchange was seemingly a microcosm of IUPUI's recent slide, which was extended to five games with a 75-57 loss at Oakland on Thursday night. IUPUI hit a respectable 47 percent from the field and 7-of-19 from three but was unable to get over the hump on the road against a strong Oakland squad.

Kangas led Oakland (12-9, 5-3 Summit) with 33 points on 11-of-15 shooting, including hitting 8-of-15 from downtown. As a team, Oakland hit 12-of-23 (52.2 percent) from three against the IUPUI (9-10, 2-6 Summit) matchup zone and turned the ball over just nine times. 

"We didn't do a very good job of identifying their shooters tonight and they made the shots," IUPUI Head Coach Ron Hunter said. "When (Erik) Kangas gets hot, he's one of the best there is. We wanted to force them into shooting contested threes, but they executed and got good looks against us.

"It's frustrating. I thought our offense looked better in spurts tonight but we didn't play with a lot of defensive swagger. We really need to put it together and play with a little more urgency."

Young paced IUPUI with 14 points, but hit just 6-of-16 from the field in the loss while Patterson finished with 13 on 5-of-9 shooting. Junior Jon Avery finished with 12 points on 6-of-7 shooting and eight rebounds in a return to the starting lineup.

A Kangas three with 9:57 left put Oakland up 55-41 before Patterson tried to personally pull IUPUI back in contention. IUPUI's lone senior swished an 18-footer and then splashed a three after a defensive stop at the other end. 

On the next possession, he picked Kangas' pocket near midcourt and raced the other way for an uncontested layup. The Jaguars closed within six when John Ashworth swished a trey from the top of the key with 8:06 left but three straight IUPUI turnovers ended any comeback chance.

Kangas converted the three miscues into eight quick points as OU converted IUPUI's 14 turnovers into 20 points in the win. 

The first half featured four lead changes as Young scored seven points in the opening 5:18 to stake IUPUI to an early 10-9 lead. Oakland countered with a 10-2 run to take the lead for good, keyed by back-to-back Kangas jumpers and a Drew Maynard three. 

Maynard scored 13 of his 15 points before halftime as Oakland took a 33-26 lead into intermission. 

Oakland outrebounded IUPUI 30-26 thanks to 10 caroms from 6-foot-11 sophomore Keith Benson. Nine of OU's 30 rebounds came off the offensive glass, leading to 11 second chance points. 

Johnathon Jones controlled the Oakland attack with 10 assists and seven points while Benson scored nine points and swatted four shots. 

IUPUI sophomore John Ashworth scored eight points and had a team-high four assists while Billy Pettiford matched Avery's eight rebounds. 

IUPUI's five-game skid is the program's longest since the 2000-01 season while the five straight league losses are the most since 1999-00. 

The Jaguars return to action on Saturday when it heads to Fort Wayne to take on IPFW inside the Hilliard Gates Sports Center at 4:00 p.m.. Pregame coverage begins at 3:30 p.m. on XL 950.