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INDIANAPOLIS - IUPUI continued its hot December stretch on Friday as the Jaguars weathered a heavy second half storm to knock off Valparaiso, 97-88 inside Bankers Life Fieldhouse in downtown Indianapolis. The win was IUPUI's fourth straight and fourth-in-a-row on the Indiana Pacers' home court.

Senior Alex Young led three Jaguars in double-digits with a game-high 27 points and both Stephen Thomas and Ian Chiles posted new career-highs with 20 and 19, respectively. Kevin Van Wijk paced four Crusaders in double-figures with 19 points and Will Bogan added 15, including four treys.

The IUPUI (6-8) basketball team built a 17-point halftime lead, only to see the Crusaders pull all the way even less than eight minutes deep into the second half. However, head coach Todd Howard's team showed some moxie, never letting Valparaiso (8-5) take the lead and eventually rebuilding a 16-point lead over the latter stages of the game.

"We knew it was a game of runs," Young said. "We knew somewhere along the line they'd make a run. I was proud of the way we responded. We knew we couldn't get away from what had gotten us that lead."

"We just wanted to be ready to play. Today, I think we answered the bell," Howard said. "You've got to give (Valpo) credit - they hit some good shots. I was very impressed from the contributions we got from (Thomas and Young). They played like seniors.

"They played like guys on a mission and that's where our team is right now."

Offensively, IUPUI made it look easy from the outset as they scored on the game's first two possessions and VU head coach Bryce Drew called timeout just 33 seconds into the game. The Jaguars stayed hot, flying out to an 18-5 lead when Chiles completed a four-point play from the top of the key at 15:02 mark of the first half. IUPUI led by double-digits for virtually the entire first half, peaking at the break when sophomore Donovan Gibbs splashed a 14-footer from the right side to push the score to 43-26.

After going 0-for-8 from three in the first half, VU immediately found the range in the second and started taking huge chunks out of the IUPUI lead. A quick 10-1 VU run made it 44-36, capped by Bogan's first of four second half triples. The Ole Miss-transfer finally brought the Crusaders all the way back at 54 all when he hit on back-to-back treys, the second coming with 12:03 left.

IUPUI countered with a Young drive to stay in front, only to see VU tie the game again on a pair of Richie Edwards free throws. IUPUI answered the bell again with a Chiles three, only this time the lead was for good. Young's aggressiveness led to a tip-in bucket which made it 61-58 and freshman Lyonell Gaines followed with a layup off a Thomas feed to make it a five-point game.

Later, a 9-0 run all but sealed the game for the Jaguars. Chiles swatted shots on three straight possessions to help lead to stops and IUPUI earned trips to the foul line at the other end. Six made free throws in three possessions pushed a seven-point lead out to 13 before Young made it 78-62 on a step back triple with 6:01 to play. Valpo got as close as seven in the closing seconds, but never seriously threatened late.

"It's coming together. Everything is on the same page right now. We're defending at a high level - we're sharing the ball at a high level," Howard said. "We're really playing a great brand of basketball."

IUPUI, which came in to the game ranked 11th in the country in free throw shooting at 76.2 percent, hit 41-of-48 (85.4 percent), including 31-of-35 after halftime. Thomas was a perfect 14-of-14, tying the IUPUI and Summit League single-game marks for percentage in a game. His 14 makes were the third-most in school history on a perfect shooting night, falling just behind a pair of Carlos Knox 18-of-18 efforts. Young was 9-of-11 and Chiles made 8-of-10 freebies. Thomas has now made 30 straight free throws dating back to the Western Kentucky game on Dec. 10.

"It's been a long time since I've scored 20 points in a game," Thomas said. "I really don't try to think about how many (free throws) I've hit in a row. I really don't try to take that up to the line with me."

Valpo was nearly equally proficient, hitting 20-of-24 (83.3 percent), but attempting just half as many as the victors.

IUPUI shot the ball from all over the court well, hitting 51 percent overall and 6-of-13 (46.2 percent) from three. Valpo was just 30-of-67 (44.8 percent) with nine of the misses coming on Jaguar blocked shots. Chiles swatted a career-high four shots on Friday while Young was credited with two rejections.

Gaines led all players with eight boards and Young delivered a team-high six assists and had three steals. IUPUI won the glass 34-31, but was outscored in the paint 42-16. Freshman Marcellus Barksdale finished with eight points and four boards, including six points in succession during a key stretch of the first half. The Lexington, Ky.-native hit a three as the shot clock expired on one trip, followed by a traditional three-point play the next time down.

Both Edwards and Jay Harris scored 14 each off the bench for the Crusaders.

IUPUI improved to 8-15 all-time against Valpo and has now won five of the last six meetings between the two schools.

After the Christmas holiday, IUPUI's six-game homestand will continue on Friday (Dec. 30) when the Jaguars host Western Illinois in a 7:00 p.m. Summit League tip-off inside the Jungle. Scott McCauley (pxp) will call the game on WNDE with pregame coverage beginning at approximately 6:50. In addition, the game can be viewed on IUPUIJags.com as part of the IUPUI LIVE! subscription service.

Reserved seats are just $10 and IUPUI students are admitted for free at the door with a valid JagTag.