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INDIANAPOLIS - IUPUI sophomore
Alex Young matched his career-highs with 29 points and nine rebounds to lead the Jaguars to a 74-58 win over Centenary inside The Jungle on Saturday afternoon. The suave lefty hit 10-of-18 from the floor and also tied his career-high with four assists as the Jags had big runs in both halves to stave off the Gents.
"Alex always creates matchup problems and that was evident today. He really got himself going defensively and that turned into some easier buckets. They were determined that Rob (Glenn) wasn't going to beat them, so I think Alex and Leroy (Nobles) really took that challenge head on," IUPUI Head Coach
Ron Hunter said.
Content to force someone besides
Robert Glenn beat them, the Gents double-teamed the 6-foot-7 senior anytime he touched the ball. With the perimeter guys open, IUPUI (13-7, 6-1 Summit) roared out to a 23-5 lead in the game's opening 9:07 with Young and
Leroy Nobles combining to score the team's first 18. Nobles swished his first three three-point attempts and added a layup to reach double-digits in the game's first eight minutes.
Offensively, Centenary (6-12, 2-6 Summit) made an adjustment and finally got its three-point shooters untracked to reel off a 22-5 run to cut the lead back to one.
The Gents had a chance to take the lead before halftime but Daman Starring turned the ball over after the shot clock was turned off. Needing a basket to retake momentum, Nobles swished a three from the left wing as the first half ended to push IUPUI's lead back to 33-29 at the break.
The second half began similarly to the first as the Jags used a 17-2 start to take command of the contest. Young scored 14 points during the rally including two threes sandwiched around a layup that was set up by a Nobles steal. Centenary scored eight straight during a five minute IUPUI scoring drought but Glenn stopped the bleeding with his only field goal of the game with 5:25 left, pushing the lead back to 10.
Glenn, The Summit's No. 2 scorer coming in, had just seven points on 1-of-5 shooting and six rebounds in 27 minutes. Senior
Jon Avery helped pick up the slack with 11 points off the bench and Nobles finished with 18, including four treys. The 6-foot-5 swingman also grabbed a season-high nine rebounds and had two steals.
The Jaguars shot 46.8 percent from the floor and 7-of-15 (.467) from three in the win. The Gents hit just 34 percent overall, but were 10-of-24 (.417) from deep. IUPUI forced 21 turnovers, 15 of which game off steals, and converted them into 28 points.
"Defensively, we did a really good job of getting in the passing lanes, getting some deflections and coming up with loose balls," Hunter said. "Our length really bothered them and made it hard for them to get open looks. We had some miscommunications that led to them getting some open shots, but for the most part, I liked what we did defensively."
Senior
Billy Pettiford tied his career-highs with six steals and three blocked shots while Avery added three steals.
Starring led Centenary with 15 points and eight rebounds and David Perez tallied 12 on just 5-of-16 shooting. Perez came in averaging nearly 17 per contest, but was forced to shoot a number of long, contested threes on Saturday.
"We did a good job of identifying Perez and not letting him get free," Hunter added. "When he did get open, he knocked them down, but we scouted them pretty well. We wanted to make him uncomfortable everytime he touched the ball."
The win was IUPUI's third straight and moved the Jags into sole possession of second place in The Summit League standings, coupled with South Dakota State's loss to NDSU on Friday.
"We accomplished our mission and that was to get a sweep this weekend," Hunter said. "We've got to keep winning these home games and then go see what we can do on the road. It's not going to be easy, but to be the best, you've got to win on the road."
IUPUI's next game will be at Southern Utah on Thursday, Jan. 21 at 9:00 p.m. EST (7 MT) from the Centrum. Pregame coverage with Scott McCauley will begin at approximately 8:50 p.m..