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INDIANAPOLIS - Senior
Leroy Nobles celebrated his birthday with a game-high 21 points and junior
Alex Young notched his third career double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds IUPUI rolled past IU-Northwest in its 2010 home opener, 83-62 on Tuesday night. IUPUI built a quick 20-point lead and led by as many as 27 in the first half before the two teams played an even second half.
"I think our legs were a little heavy tonight after that trip to Gonzaga, but my guys did a good job of getting out in front early and making sure it wasn't in question. That's what you have to do on a night like tonight. Take care of business and then get ready for the next one," IUPUI Head Coach
Ron Hunter said. "Leroy and Alex really took the game over early and gave us the chance to mix and match a lot of lineups from there."
IUPUI (1-1) surged out to a 29-9 lead with Young igniting the crowd early with a fast break two-handed dunk and senior
John Ashworth fueling the burst with back-to-back driving layups. The lead swelled to 39-12, thanks to consecutive threes from
Sean Esposito and a tip-in from Young with 6:19 left in the half.
The Jaguars went scoreless for the final 4:31 of the first half and allowed IU-Northwest (0-6) to make it 43-22 at the break. However, a 15-2 run to open the second half ended any doubt in the outcome.
Nobles started the run with a three from the right side and Esposito continued it with his third three of the game. After IUN's Keith Dean missed a dunk in transition, Esposito and Nobles went back-to-back from beyond the arc again make it four straight treys.
Young capped the run with a traditional three-point play off an assist from Nobles.
After being credited with just three assists in Sunday's loss at No. 12 Gonzaga, IUPUI handed out 22 helpers on 33 field goals on Tuesday. Young handed out a career-high six assists in the win and
Stephen Thomas delivered 10 points and six assists off the bench.
"I thought we did a good job of making the extra pass and making things easier on ourselves," Hunter said. "And when you make shots, you look like a better basketball team. We've got some guys who are capable of hitting shots and being really good offensively."
Esposito scored 12 points on four treys off the bench and freshman
Donovan Gibbs added 11 points in his first collegiate start. Nobles canned 6-of-13 from the floor and all seven free throw attempts in 30 minutes work while Young went 8-of-13 overall. Young's 11 boards also matched his career-high.
IUPUI hit 48.5 percent overall and 7-of-24 (29.2 percent) from three. Defensively, The Jags limited the RedHawks to just 37 percent overall and 21 percent from three. Justin Latimore paced the guests with 17 points and Keith Dean added 13, but hit just 3-of-18 field goal attempts.
"We can get better defensively," Hunter said. "We didn't force an abundance of turnovers and we gave us a couple of offensive rebounds, so there's always work to do. We'll have to get that cleared up before we go to Miami."
IUPUI returns to action this weekend when it plays three games in three days at Millett Hall in Oxford, Ohio as part of the O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic. The Jaguars will play host Miami on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m.. Pregame coverage with Scott McCauley (play-by-play) will begin on 88.3 FM / The Walk at approximately 7:20 p.m.. Live audio will also be available via the web at IUPUIJags.com.
In addition, tonight's game will be re-aired on HomeTown Sports Indiana on Wednesday at 6:00 p.m.; Thursday at 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. and Friday at 7:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m..