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INDIANAPOLIS - Senior Leroy Nobles wanted to fast track his quest to 1,000 career points. The 6-foot-5 sharpshooter tallied 20 of his career-high 31 points in the first half as the Jaguars rolled to a 103-80 win over IU-East in The Jungle on Monday night. The Jaguars shot a blistering 69 percent from the floor as Nobles hit 10-of-15 shots in the win.

"That's the Leroy Nobles we know and love," IUPUI Head Coach Ron Hunter said. "He took over this game tonight and he needed that. He'd been struggling a little bit, so for him to see the ball go in was a really good thing for his confidence.

"We knew they were going to come in here and scrap and fight us the whole way, so for Leroy to hit them like he did in the first half, kind of deflated them a little bit."

Leading just 22-21 against an inspired IU-East (9-3) squad at the 11:22 mark of the first half, Nobles decided to put the team on his back and rattled off a personal 11-0 run in just over two minutes. First he hit a three off an feed from John Ashworth and then was the recipient of a feed from Donovan Gibbs in transition to lead to an easy right-handed layup.

On the next trip, he hit on a reversal from Ashworth, making it 30-21. He capped the run with another trey when Nick DeSchepper freed him in transition, making it 33-21. The lead swelled to 21 when junior Alex Young put back his own miss with 3:42 left in the half, but IU-East closed within 54-40 at the break. 

IUPUI (3-4) opened the second half with a 10-0 run, primarily on layups, but didn't land the knockout blow until late in the game. The IUPUI advantage ballooned to 67-42 with 15:38 to play on Young's three-point play, but IU-East stayed in the game with a 16-1 run of its own.

Ashworth temporarily stopped the bleeding with a three from the baseline corner, but the visiting Red Wolves stayed close.

Nobles delivered the final dagger when he hit his fourth three of the game with 3:50 left, pushing the lead out to 86-71. That came after IU-East's leading scorer Tyler Rigby missed the front end of a one-and-one after picking off a pass near midcourt and drawing a reach on Young. Nobles' final three sparked a 9-0 run that ended any suspense and saw the Jaguars climb over the century mark for the first time since Feb. 18 of last season.

Nobles came into Monday's game needing just 47 more points to become the 22nd player in school history to amass 1,000 in his career.

"I'm happy for Leroy," Hunter said. "Hopefully this will get him going and carry over into league play."

Collectively, IUPUI's 68.5 percent from the floor was a season-high, as was the 7-of-11 (63.6 percent) effort from three. The 68.5 percent was just shy of the school record 69.8 percent effort set last season against Thursday's opponent, Centenary. IUPUI also hit 75.9 percent at the foul line, outrebounded the smaller Red Wolves 36-24 and handed out 18 assists on 37 baskets.

"We did some good things offensively and that was big for us," Hunter said. "If nothing else, we're no longer the lowest scoring team in America. We got some assists and made shots tonight. We look like a really good offensive basketball team when the ball goes in the basket."

Young hit 10-of-16 shots to finish with 24 points and eight boards in 35 minutes. Junior Christian Siakam tallied a career-high 14 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots off the bench, despite playing through an illness. The 6-foot-7 forward was limited to just 20 minutes and was visibly ill on the IUPUI sidelines at different points during the night. Gibbs also enjoyed a career night, hitting 6-of-7 shots to finish with a season-high 12 points and six boards. Ashworth made all three of his field goal attempts and reached double-digits for the second time this year with 10 points.

DeSchepper played 16 meaningful minutes on Monday and finished with four points, three assists and a steal.

\Rigby led IU-East with 25 points on 11-of-14 shooting and backcourt mate Matt Trimnell tossed in 20 in the loss. The Red Wolves hit 11-of-28 (39.3 percent) from three and 47 percent overall.

"They're a tough match for us because we can't really play our bigs against them," Hunter said. "They spread you out and have shooters all over the court. That made it tough for guys like Mitch (Patton) and Christian and Donovan.

"We don't like to give up 11 threes to anyone, but we'll work on that and get better."

IUPUI will return to action on Thursday night when it opens up Summit League play against Centenary at 7:00 p.m. in The Jungle. Pregame coverage on 88.3 FM will begin at approximately 6:50 as Scott McCauley (play-by-play) and former Jag Angelo Smith call the action from courtside. The game will also be available via the IUPUI LIVE! subscription service on IUPUIJags.com.