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OXFORD, Ohio - The IUPUI basketball team dropped a 59-58 heartbreaker at Miami (Ohio) on Saturday night, spoiling Head Coach Ron Hunter's return to his alma mater as part of the Oxford Subregional of the O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic at Millett Hall. Brownsburg-native Julian Mavunga led Miami with 17 points and seven rebounds and Antonio Ballard scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half.

Junior Alex Young led all scorers with 23 points and classmate Stephen Thomas provided 11 points off the bench.

IUPUI (1-2) led for much of the second half and was clinging to a 46-43 lead with 7:46 left after John Ashworth swished a three from the right corner in front of the Jaguars' bench. However, Miami (2-1) responded with a four-point possession, beginning with Mavunga hitting the first of two free throws. After missing the second, Ballard plucked the rebound, powered in a layup and drew a foul in the process. The Jeffersonville, Ind.-native hit the free throw to cap the four-point trip.

Young buried a three from the top of the key to make it 49-47 with 6:55 left, but Miami scored the next six points and led the rest of the way. Mavunga capped the quick 6-0 run with a three from the left wing with 2:58 left, forcing Hunter to call a timeout.

IUPUI pulled within two on a pair of Thomas free throws at the 2:04 mark, but Ballard countered with a layup at the other end. On the Jaguars' next possession, Ballard swatted Young's driving attempt, leading to a Mavunga drive and finish with just 50 seconds left.

IUPUI made things interesting when Thomas hit a driving leaner to cut the lead back to four with 33 seconds left. Miami gave the ball back on Mavunga turnover and Young cashed in that possession with a pair of freebies with just 21 seconds left. Mavunga redeemed himself by hitting a pair of free throws, but Thomas stroked a three from the baseline corner off a Leroy Nobles feed with less than 10 seconds left.

Miami obliged with another turnover on a long inbounds pass, giving the Jaguars the ball back 50 feet away from the basket with just 0.6 seconds left. However, Young's prayer went unanswered and fell harmlessly wide left as time expired.

Young finished the game hitting just 9-of-22 shots as IUPUI hit 39.2 percent overall and 7-of-20 (35 percent) from three.

"Alex is a really good player and what we've told him is that every time he goes out there, he needs to be the best player on the floor," Hunter said. "He's a terrific player and he's going to be a pro, but he's still learning how to play. He's just now turning the corner in that regard. It's been a process, but he's really starting to figure it out now.

"Honestly, we got better as a team tonight. To win on the road is a hard thing to do and it's a process. It's not an easy thing to do. We're getting better, but we're still a young basketball team. We're going to be a good basketball team, but we've still got to figure some things out."

Miami led early, but Young scored seven straight points during a three-minute stretch late in the half to give the Jaguars a 17-11 edge. The RedHawks countered with a 10-0 run, holding IUPUI scoreless for over five minutes before the Jaguars finished the half with five straight points. Freshman Mitchell Patton hit a pair of free throws at the 1:14 mark and Young splashed a trey on IUPUI's final possession of the first  half for a 22-21 lead.

Miami outrebounded the Jaguars 37-29 and outscored IUPUI 34-20 in the paint.

Nobles grabbed a game-high nine boards, but hit only 2-of-7 shots and finished with six points. He also handed out a game-high three assists in 36 minutes work. Ashworth and Patton both tallied six points.

Quinten Rollins had 11 points for MU and Nick Winbush ended with nine points, six rebounds and four steals. IUPUI turned the ball over just nine times and forced 16 Miami miscues.

"We put a lot of pressure on opponents' guards and really change up our defenses. We used seven or eight different defenses tonight and probably didn't ever play the same defense on back to back possessions," Hunter said. "We confused them at times, but then we also missed some assignments and gave them some easy looks.

"That's something we've got to get better at."

IUPUI will return to action on Sunday night when it takes on No. 25 San Diego State at 5:30 p.m. at Millett Hall. It marks the second time in four outings this year IUPUI will take on a nationally ranked opponent. Scott McCauley (play-by-play) will call the action on 88.3 FM / The Walk, with pregame coverage beginning at approximately 5:20 p.m..