Box Score I
Box Score (.pdf)
MACOMB, Ill. - Senior
Robert Glenn pumped in 27 points and sophomore
Alex Young added 20 as the IUPUI basketball coasted to a 70-42 win at Western Illinois on Saturday night. The 42 points allowed were the fewest by an IUPUI foe since yielding just 41 to Indiana State on Dec. 23, 2008 as Western was limited to just 37.5 percent shooting. The Jaguars forced WIU (9-14, 2-10 Summit) into 16 turnovers and outscored the hosts 26-6 off miscues.
"Tonight defensively we were really good," IUPUI Head Coach
Ron Hunter said. "We had to come out with a little bit of an attitude after that IPFW game. We've had a tough couple of days of practice and the guys came out and responded tonight. Our defense and rebounding was tough tonight and that's exactly what we've got to do to win."
IUPUI (18-6, 10-2 Summit) led from wire to wire as Glenn was dazzling in the post in the early going. The reigning Summit League Player of the Week scored eight of the Jags' first 10 points before heading to the sidelines after picking up his second personal foul less than seven minutes in. With Glenn on the bench, offensive contributions came from Young,
Leroy Nobles,
Billy Pettiford and
Jon Avery as the Jags eventually eased out to a 25-15 lead at the 5:49 mark on a Young runner.
WIU got back within eight but the Jags held the Fighting Leathernecks without a basket over the final 3:22 of the first half to take a 34-20 lead into the break. However, the best was yet to come for IUPUI as a 13-1 blitzkrieg forced WIU Head Coach Jim Molinari to call two timeouts in the opening 3:40 of the second stanza. Western senior David Nurse finally stopped the bleeding with a 30-footer from the wing, but by that time the Jaguars had the game well in hand.
IUPUI later put together an 11-0 run punctuated by Young and Glenn dunks that allowed Hunter to empty the bench for the final five minutes of the game. The lead swelled to 36 points at its apex before some late Nurse threes generated the final margin.
The Jaguars shot 59.5 percent overall and handed out 18 assists on 25 baskets.
Glenn was 8-of-10 from the floor and hit 11-of-14 from the free throw line in just 23 minutes work. Young rebounded from his season-low six-point effort last Sunday by going 8-of-11 overall tying Glenn's six boards for team-high honors. Nobles also finished in double-figures with 10 points and junior point guard
John Ashworth handed out 10 assists against just one turnover.
"Rob and Alex are going to get theirs, but I thought our bench gave us a lift tonight," Hunter said. "
Jon Avery played good minutes and we got good minutes from guys like (Nick) DeSchepper and Christian (Siakam) and (Sean) Esposito. They came in and gave us some life and let those other guys get some rest."
Avery scored six points off the bench and is now tied for 25th on IUPUI's career scoring list with 925 points.
Nurse led WIU with 17 points, including five treys, and Tommie Tyler added eight. IUPUI outscored Western 36-16 in the paint and outrebounded the 'Necks 29-18.
"I like how we're playing right now. We've won seven of our last eight and are really getting after people defensively," Hunter said. "We had 12 turnovers so I'm not real happy with that, but as long as we keep that turnover number down, we're going to give ourselves a chance to win every game.
"Coming into tonight, we had seven games left so we told our guys that there are 14 halves left. If we win all 14 halves then we can't be beat. We're not even looking at it game by game, we're looking at halves of games and tonight we won both."
IUPUI's next game will be on Thursday, Feb. 11 when the Jaguars trek to Shreveport, La. to take on Centenary in a 7:00 p.m. CST tipoff. Scott McCauley will begin calling the action on IUPUIJags.com approximately 10 minutes prior to tip.