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INDIANAPOLIS - The IUPUI basketball team began celebrating Thanksgiving early on Wednesday night, feasting on the IU East Red Wolves in its 2009 home opener en route to an easy 98-67 win inside The Jungle. Junior Leroy Nobles led five Jaguars in double-digits with 23 points and redshirt freshman Sean Esposito tallied 18 points on 6-of-8 threes off the bench.

After a sluggish start, IUPUI (5-1) finished the night hitting 67.3 percent from the floor and 64.7 percent from three while handing out 25 assists on 37 field goals. IUPUI's 67.3 percent was just percentage points away from setting a new single-game mark at the Division I level, set earlier this year against Drake.

"We came out flat, but we played through it. I was a little disappointed with how we played the first eight to 10 minutes, but games like this are tough," IUPUI Head Coach Ron Hunter said. "We just got back off the road and it's right before the (Thanksgiving) holiday, so the guys lost a little focus early."

The lack of focus saw the Jags trailing 11-6 at the 16:05 mark of the first half, but hot shooting and timely defense propelled IUPUI on a 12-0 run to take the lead for good midway through the stanza. Junior John Ashworth hit a 16-footer to tie the score at 16 all at the 13:07 mark and sophomore Alex Young followed with a layup setup by Billy Pettiford's steal and assist.

Esposito capped the run with a three from the left side, making it 26-16 with 8:48 left in the first half. IUPUI took a 42-28 advantage to halftime and scored the first seven points of the second half to put the game away. Esposito was the story of the final frame, hitting four threes in six IUPUI possessions at one point, however IU East (4-5) matched three of the longballs to keep the score respectable.

"(Esposito) was huge tonight. He can really shoot the ball and to get 18 off the bench is a huge lift to our team," Hunter said. "The thing I didn't like is that we were just trading baskets during that stretch in the second half, but again, part of that was just us losing focus and not getting stops."

The IUPUI bench outscored IUE's 37-24 as Jon Avery finished with 11 points and a career-high four blocked shots and sophomore Christian Siakam scored a career-high eight points in 15 minutes.

"The bench really lifted us tonight. Jon Avery gave us some really good minutes and I thought Christian Siakam played really well," Hunter said. "The thing about him is that he has some bulk and can score inside. He's still having a hard time understanding our system, but he's going to be a really good player for us."

Young scored 16, Robert Glenn added 11 and Ashworth chipped in nine points and eight assists in 35 minutes.

"Ashworth keeps doing his thing," Hunter said. "He's playing some major minutes, but you look up and he's got some assists, he's hitting some shots and he's playing defense. I want to give him a rest, but he's playing so well that it's hard to keep him off the floor."

Nobles grabbed a game-high seven boards as IUPUI outrebounded the Red Wolves 35-30.

IU East was led by Tyler Rigby's 23 points on 5-of-9 from downtown and Noah Douglas added 11 from the interior. The Red Wolves shot just 32.5 percent in the second half while IUPUI missed just seven field goal attempts in a 74 percent effort over the final 20 minutes.

IUPUI will wrap up November on the road when it takes on Kansas State inside the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo., on Saturday. Game time is scheduled for 3:10 p.m. against the Big 12 foe. Nick McCabe (play-by-play) will call the action on IUPUIJags.com with pregame coverage beginning approximately 20 minutes to tip.