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Leroy Nobles
John Gentry, Jr.

NOBLES, YOUNG PROPEL JAGS TO SENIOR NIGHT WIN OVER UMKC

Jags scoring duo combines for 53 in 84-69 victory

2/19/2011 10:23:58 PM

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INDIANAPOLIS - Senior Leroy Nobles scored a game-high 28 points in his final home game and junior Alex Young added 25 as IUPUI avenged an earlier loss with an 84-69 defeat of UMKC on Saturday night in The Jungle. Nobles hit 11-of-13 shots and also grabbed eight boards (six offensive) as IUPUI improved to 17-12 overall and 11-5 in The Summit League.

"I really wanted to come out and play well tonight, especially after losing the way we did on Thursday," Nobles said. "I thought we played with a lot of energy and the crowd got behind us. This is the way we wanted to go out."

Nobles helped the Jaguars blaze out to an early 25-15 lead, hitting an early three-point play in transition and burying his first of four threes on the night. The advantage grew as high as 14 in the first half before UMKC was able to make it 40-31 at the break.

UMKC (16-11, 9-7 Summit) got within six early in the second half on a Jay Couisnard jumper from the right baseline, but Nobles and his teammates responded with a 9-0 run shortly thereafter and led at least 14 points the rest of the night. Nobles started the run with a layup, but missed the ensuing free throw of a three-point play opportunity. However, the Jaguars rebounded the miss and junior Christian Siakam scored on a jump hook on the possession.

At the other end, Nobles picked off a Bakari Lewis pass, which led to an open Sean Esposito three-point attempt. The sophomore came up with a rare misfire, but Nobles cleaned the glass and skied above a crowd to drop in an easy putback. After a Stephen Thomas steal, Nobles again cleaned the glass in transition and coverted a three-point play, making it 56-39 with 14:47 to play.

The lead climbed as high as 23 with 6:30 left when Thomas stroked a corner three off a feed from freshman Donovan Gibbs. All in all, IUPUI hit 11-of-20 (55 percent) from three and limited UMKC to just 9-of-30 from behind the arc.

"We did a good job of hitting open shots, but what I'm happiest about is that we did a good job of challenging their jump shooters. We wanted them to take a lot of tough, contested jumpers and that's what happened. At their place, we didn't do a good job of closing out and they made us pay," IUPUI Head Coach Ron Hunter said. "That's all we talked about and we did a better job of it tonight."

The Jaguars also owned the interior, outrebounding UMKC 38-23 and outscoring the 'Roos 42-22 in the paint. Siakam finished with a hefty double-double of 14 points and 12 rebounds and made 7-of-9 field goal attempts in close. Young did the bulk of his damage from the perimeter, making 9-of-17 overall and 4-of-6 from three. He made his first four three-point attempts of the night before finally missing on a 40-foot hoist as the shot clock was winding down.

Nobles moved into the top 10 on IUPUI's all-time scoring list in the process, ending the night with 1,367 career points. Young climbed up to the No. 5 spot on the list, upping his career total to 1,560 points. 

The three other senior classmates all got in on the action on Saturday night as well. John Ashworth matched his season-high with seven assists and collected a pair of steals in 24 minutes work. Before the game, the Franklin Central product was awarded the annual Mel Garland Basketball Award, given annually to an IUPUI men's basketball player who has excelled both on and off the court.

"I think John was the perfect recipient of that award," Hunter said. "He's really what you look for as a coach. He does what we ask, he goes to class, we don't have to worry about him doing stupid stuff and he's made our program better for four years now."

The two senior reserves also had some signature moments on Saturday night. On the inside, Anthony Williams scored back-to-back buckets in the first half and ended up with four points and two caroms. Williams' first bucket came courtesy of a nifty Nick DeSchepper feed, accounting for the first of his two assists off the bench.

Reggie Chamberlain led four Kangaroos in double-figures with 19 points and Lewis scored 18 off the bench. Couisnard, UMKC's top scorer coming in, was held to just eight points on 2-of-9 shooting in just 26 foul plagued minutes. The Evansville-transfer missed most of the first half with two fouls and never got going offensively.

"I thought we took them out of some of the things they like to do offensively," Hunter said. "We didn't give them anything easy and they're a team that can kind of thrive in transition."

UMKC won the earlier meeting between the two schools, 85-77 in a double overtime thriller in Kansas City.

IUPUI will cap its Summit League schedule with a two-game road trip which begins in Tulsa on Thursday night. The Jaguars will take on Oral Roberts at 8:05 p.m. inside the Mabee Center with pregame coverage on 88.3 FM / The Walk beginning at approximately 7:55. From there, the Jags will trek to Shreveport, La. to face Centenary College on Saturday.
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