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INDIANAPOLIS - The IUPUI basketball team shot an even 50 percent and found enough offense to crawl past The Summit League's top defensive team on Saturday night, bettering Western Illinois 67-54 in The Jungle. Senior Robert Glenn had 19 points, seven rebounds and a career-high five blocked shots and sophomore Alex Young scored 16 points. 

Western Illinois (6-9, 0-5 Summit) got 14 points from Matt Lander and 12 from David Gebru, both off the bench. Young scored 10 of his 16 in the final six minutes after WIU had crept within five on a Ceola Clark three with 6:17 to play. 

Twice, Young answered WIU threes with daggers of his own, including one from the baseline corner to make it 56-46 with 4:13 left. The Fighting Leathernecks got within six with 2:10 left, but freshman Greg Rice swished a pair of free throws and Young followed with a steal and dunk to push the lead back to 10 at the 1:46 mark to deliver the win. 

"Western's a hard team to play against. They defend so well and take you out of what you want to do that it can frustrate you. They make every possession even more valuable than when you're really getting up and down," IUPUI Head Coach Ron Hunter said. "I thought our guys did a good job of finding a way to win this game. We came out with a lot of energy on the defensive end and it helped us get some easy buckets. We had to forget about what happened on Wednesday and get back to our goal, which is winning The Summit League.

Glenn, who ranked second in The Summit in scoring coming in, shouldered the load early before his teammates came to life in the second half.

"Rob was Rob and did his thing inside," Hunter said. "There were times that he passed up some pretty good shots and I thought he was almost too unselfish tonight at times. He still had five turnovers, but all in all, he was pretty good at both ends."

The IUPUI (11-7, 4-1 Summit) defense and an array of Glenn layups staked the Jags to an early 13-1 lead just over four minutes in. The first half lead grew as large as 14 before IUPUI took a 30-20 lead to halftime on a Billy Pettiford tip-in at the horn. 

The start of the second half was either a battle of offensive ineptitude or defensive strangleholds as the two teams combined to score four points in the first four minutes. Both teams began gaining traction and trading buckets before WIU reeled off an 8-0 run to cut a 13-point deficit down to five. 

Lander, a native of Evansville, began the run with a right wing three and Tommie Tyler followed with a driving layup. On the next possession, Clark picked Rice's pocket and swished a kick out trey off a feed from James Granstra with 6:17 to play. 

Needing a bucket, IUPUI looked to Young after three defenders sagged in around Glenn. Senior Billy Pettiford rifled a diagonal pass to the lefty in the baseline corner, who swished his first three of the night. 

"Alex really came up big down the stretch. You could tell that they weren't going to let Rob beat them," Hunter said. "When Rob gets going, he opens the floor up for the shooters and Alex is shooting the ball as well as anyone in our league right now. He can take over games and I think that's what we saw tonight."

Young hit 6-of-14 shots and added five rebounds in 29 minutes work. Rice finished with a career-high 14 points, including a pair of treys, in 23 minutes off the bench. Pettiford chipped in eight points, six assists and five rebounds before fouling out with under three minutes left. 

IUPUI did the bulk of its damage on the interior, outscoring WIU 30-24 in the paint.

Lander hit 5-of-8 shots and Gebru was 5-of-9 with seven rebounds in the middle. WIU made just 19-of-48 (.396) from the floor and were outrebounded by the Jags, 32-27. 

Hunter improved to 22-3 all-time against WIU with the win and IUPUI improved to 3-0 at home in The Summit this season. 

IUPUI's four-game homestand will continue on Thursday night when it hosts Oral Roberts inside Conseco Fieldhouse at 7:00 p.m.. The night has been dubbed "Retro Metro Night" as the Jaguars will wear 1970's replica Metros jerseys and honor former student-athletes in all sports throughout the evening. For ticket information, click the "Retro Metro" advertisement in the top-left corner of IUPUIJags.com or call John Rasmussen at 317-274-5453. 

Pregame coverage will begin at approximately 6:50 as Scott McCauley (play-by-play) and Jared Lux (analyst) call the game. Free audio and subscription video will be available via IUPUIJags.com.