SHREVEPORT, La. - Senior Brandon Cole (Indianapolis, Ind./Ben Davis) scored 16 of his game-high 23 points in the first half as IUPUI sealed up a share of the Mid-Continent Conference regular season title, beating Centenary 65-49. The win was IUPUI's ninth straight, marking the program's longest winning streak since the 1984-85 season.
IUPUI (18-7, 13-1 Mid-Con) won for the 15th time in the last 17 games and claimed its first-ever Mid-Con regular season title in the program's eighth season. Defensively, IUPUI limited Centenary (4-21, 2-12 Mid-Con) to just 49 points, marking the lowest total by an opponent in nearly two years.
"We didn't play great, but we played well defensively and got the win," IUPUI head coach Ron Hunter said. "I knew there would be a letdown after four emotional wins last week, but we got the job done.
"We just need to get back our edge. I thought we came out and played with an edge, but we lost it for awhile.
Cole hit his first three threes from the left wing to open the game and the Jags never trailed in the contest. The school's all-time leader in three-pointers made staked IUPUI to an early 9-0 lead, which eventually swelled to 16-2 with 12:44 left in the half.
"That 9-0 run was huge," Hunter said. "We wanted to get on them early and try to take them out of the game. Brandon's threes really set the tone."
The Gents clawed within five at 26-21 when Ronnie Martin converted a conventional three-point play with 1:46 left in the half. Thanks to three straight Centenary turnovers, IUPUI closed the first half with a 7-0 spurt including a Cole jumper off a loose ball as time expired.
IUPUI was able to extend the lead back to 14 early in the second half when Michal Vavrek (Banska' Bystrica, Slovakia/Highland [Ind.]) sank a pair of free throws, but the Gents hung tough. The Gents got back within seven before Cole's fifth three of the night with 8:14 left pushed the lead to double-digits for good.
For the game, IUPUI shot 52.5 percent from the floor and hit 9-of-19 (47.4 percent) from three-point range. The Jags held Centenary to just 41.5 percent shooting and outrebounded the hosts 25-19. Six IUPUI players combined to shoot 14-of-15 (93.3 percent) at the foul line.
Cole hit 8-of-11 overall and 5-of-7 from long range in 37 minutes work. Sophomore George Hill (Indianapolis, Ind./Broad Ripple) added 15 points, eight rebounds and four assists and hit 5-of-7 from the floor.
Cole grabbed two rebounds, pulling into a third-place tie on IUPUI's all-time list with Charles Price (1997-02) with 688 caroms.
Alexander Starr led Centenary with 14 points and four rebounds while freshman guard Bryan Baumann added nine points. The Gents hit just 2-of-11 (18.2 percent) from three-point range in the loss. Centenary's leading scorer, Chris Watson, was held to just six points on 2-of-6 shooting off the bench.
IUPUI will have the next week off until heading to Chicago State next Thursday night with the opportunity to win the conference championship outright. The Jags will then close the regular season at Southern Utah on Saturday.
"We're going to get some rest this weekend and then continue to do our thing," Hunter said. "We've still got some work to do.
"We're hoping to have 20 wins going into the Mid-Con Tournament - that's one of our goals."
Since the NCAA purchased the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) this past summer, it is anticipated that each league's regular season champion is assured postseason play in 2006. If the Jags are eliminated from the upcoming conference tourney, all indications point to an invite to the NIT.
