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INDIANAPOLIS - Senior Leroy Nobles scored a game-high 22 points and junior Alex Young tallied 19 as IUPUI squeaked past North Dakota State, 67-64 on Thursday night in The Jungle. The win was IUPUI's fifth in its past six outings as the Jaguars improved to 10-9 overall and 4-2 in The Summit League.

NDSU dropped to 9-7 overall and 3-3 in The Summit.

"It sure wasn't pretty, but we'll take it," IUPUI head coach Ron Hunter said. "Honestly, these are the kind of games we lost earlier in the year. I like the fact that I can see us progressing, but we've still got a long ways to go. We're not even close to where we want to be yet."

IUPUI was slow out of the gates, falling behind 9-2 in the opening six minutes before using a 7-0 run to tie the score at 9-9. The Jaguars didn't enjoy their first lead of the night until 5:46 before halftime when freshman P.J. Hubert swished a three from the right wing off a kick out pass from fellow rookie Donovan Gibbs. The lead immediately grew to five when Stephen Thomas picked off a pass in the backcourt and dropped in a finger roll to make it 24-19.

The Jaguars made just one field goal over the final five minutes of the first half though and led 26-24 at the break.

After both teams struggled to score in the first half, it was the exact opposite in the second half as neither defense could get stops in the early going. The Jaguars scored on their first seven possessions of the second stanza, but only led 40-34 after Thomas hit a runner at the 15:41 mark.

IUPUI finally got some daylight after a 6-0 run spurred by three John Ashworth steals made it 46-38 with 11:20 left. Seemingly every time NDSU made a shot, IUPUI responded with a make of its own. 

Drew Lundberg third second half triple made it 59-55 with 6:08 to play, but Nobles came back with a three-point play after rebounding Young's miss in traffic. The 6-foot-5 guard was quickest to a loose ball and banked in a layup from the left side while drawing contact from NDSU's TrayVonn Wright. 

On the Jags' next trip, Nobles buried a three from the left wing after Christian Siakam's offensive rebound maintained possession after a Young miss. 

"Our offensive rebounding has really bailed us out the last two games and we've obviously needed them, because the first shots aren't going in," Hunter said. "Christian (Siakam) had some key rebounds and even Anthony (Williams) did a good job of getting his hands on loose balls and made some plays for us."

NDSU closed within 65-59 with 3:31 left, but neither team scratched again until Freddy Coleman dropped in a left-handed layup with exactly 1:00 to play. Without a timeout, NDSU elected to play defense, rather than foul the Jaguars and Ashworth complied by missed a trey as the shot clock expired. At the other end, IUPUI got the final stop it would need when Michael Tveidt missed a turnaround jumper and Young emerged with the rebound.

Nobles capped his night with two free throws before Tveidt ended the game by swishing a three as the horn sounded.

Nobles hit 8-of-17 shots and added five rebounds (four offensive) while Young was 7-of-14 overall and 5-of-6 at the free throw line. With his 19 points, Young surpassed former IUPUI standout Brandon Cole for 10th place on the school's all-time scoring list and stands just seven points shy of matching Don Carlisle at 1,340 career points. Thomas finished the win in double-digits with 15 points on 7-of-11 shooting.

"Those three guys stepped up and made plays when we needed them, which is what upperclassmen are supposed to do," Leroy's been in the program for four years and is starting to understand that it's not all about scoring the points, but it takes other things to help our basketball team win."

Siakam, coming off a career-high 20-point game at IPFW, finished with seven points and six boards and Ashworth contributed four assists and four steals.

Lundberg led NDSU with 13 and Taylor Braun added 12 on a perfect 4-of-4 shooting from the floor and foul line. Freshman Marshall Bjorklund added 10 points and six boards, but the story of the game for NDSU was Tveidt being limited just five points on 2-of-11 shooting. The senior sharpshooter came in averaging nearly 15 points per game.

"We did a pretty good job of finding Tveidt and not giving him open looks. Fortunately for us, when he did get open looks, they weren't going in," Hunter said. "We still gave up 40 percent from three, so I'm not happy about that, but they're one of the best shooting teams in the country."

IUPUI will return to action on Saturday night when it plays host to South Dakota State in Summit League action. Hunter will traipse the sidelines in his bare feet as part of his continued partnership with Samaritan's Feet, while IUPUI will also be celebrating Take A Kid to the Game Night. Kids 12-and-under will receive free admission when accompanied by full price adult ticket. Kids in attendance will also receive a J.J. Jumper Growth Chart along with an NCAA ruler, while supplies last.

Pregame coverage on 88.3 FM / The Walk with Scott McCauley (play-by-play) and Angelo Smith (analyst) will begin at approximately 6:55 with tipoff slated for 7:00 p.m..The game will also be broadcast live via the web as part of the IUPUI LIVE! package on IUPUIJags.com.