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INDIANAPOLIS - Senior Alex Young paced four Jaguars in double-digits with 18 points as IUPUI extended its Summit League best winning streak to six straight with a 83-74 overtime win over UMKC inside the Jungle on Tuesday (Jan. 3) night. IUPUI used a 29-8 scoring advantage at the free throw line to help combat UMKC's 62.5 percent three-point shooting to improve to 8-8 overall and 2-2 in The Summit League.

"I thought to end this homestand going six for six against some good teams, against some teams that are playing well and against some teams that are talented, was a good sign," IUPUI head coach Todd Howard said. "I'm very happy with the guys on two notes. I thought they ended the year 2011 in great fashion. And now you open up this year with a win at home.

"Now we'll have a test to go on the road."

Thomas Staton led UMKC with 15 points and nine boards and Bernard Kamwa added 12 points in the loss. However, UMKC turned the ball over 24 times, leading to IUPUI's decisive 31-7 edge in points off miscues.

IUPUI (8-8, 2-2) built a 10-point lead early in the second half before an 18-4 UMKC (7-10, 1-4) run flipped the score in favor of the Kangaroos. The guests held the lead for much of the second half until freshman Marcellus Barksdale came up with a pair of key plays with just over five minutes to play. The rookie picked off a pass at one end and gave the ball to Stephen Thomas to start the break. After racing the length of the floor, the Lexington, Ky.-native dropped in a layup and was fouled on the play to later give IUPUI a 60-59 lead.

With just over two minutes to play, Barksdale came up with another key steal that later led to an Ian Chiles transition putback to put the Jaguars ahead 64-63. UMKC countered with a Bernard Kamwa layup to go back in front before freshman Lyonell Gaines tied the game by hitting 1-of-2 from the foul line. Kirk Korver gave UMKC its final lead of the night with a six-footer with 1:05 left in regulation, but Gaines answered with an easy layup off a Barksdale feed with just over 43 seconds remaining.

From there, the remainder of regulation took an odd twist.

UMKC raced the ball into the frontcourt before calling timeout near midcourt with 36.4 seconds left. On the ensuing inbounds, Chiles stole the ball and the Jaguars opted to hold for one shot. However, the shot clock never reset and by the time the Jaguars recognized it, it was too late. Young hoisted a challenged 35-footer that missed everything, but sparked reaction from the IUPUI sideline. After a lengthy delay, UMKC was awarded possession with 5.8 seconds left. The 'Roos ran the ball up the right sideline, but Korver launched a premature halfcourt heave in an effort to draw a whistle, giving IUPUI the ball back with 1.4 seconds left. The Jaguars then flung a full-court pass to Young, who caught the ball on the sideline to give possession to UMKC with 0.8 left. Reggie Chamberlain missed a half court shot to send the game to overtime.

In overtime, IUPUI scored first on a Young drive before Korver answered with a layup of his own. IUPUI scored the next six points beginning with a Barksdale 12-foot leaner and never looked back, outscoring the 'Roos 16-7 in overtime. IUPUI, which came into the game ranked fifth in the country in free throw percentage, hit 12-of-14 in overtime and 29-of-39 (74.4 percent) in the game to secure the win. UMKC was just 8-of-10.

"We really wanted to limit them to one or no shots (in overtime)," Howard said. "We wanted to speed up the pressure because we thought they were fatigued. We thought our depth and our conditioning helped us have great energy down the stretch and helped us make those free throws." 

The game got off to a blistering pace offensively with IUPUI in front 12-10 less than five minutes deep. Thomas swished two early threes, but Chamberlain answered with his first of three triples in the back-and-forth affair. Neither team led by more than five in the opening 20 minutes before IUPUI took a 35-31 lead to the lockerroom.

The Jags opened the second half with a 8-2 burst to account for the 10-point lead, mainly behind Young's aggressive play. The Summit League Preseason Player of the Year scored IUPUI's first five points of the second frame before setting up a Chiles wing three that made it 43-33. However, Michael Gholston, Jr. sparked the UMKC run with eight straight points including back-to-back threes.

UMKC was 10-of-16 from behind the arc with Staton going 3-for-3 and Gholston hitting both his attempts. Gholston finished with 10 points and Chamberlain scored 11 on 4-of-12 shooting.

"It was a team full of shooters. We really stressed that we wanted to get out and guard the three," Barksdale said. "They hit some big shots. We kind of bended, we didn't break though.

"We got it to overtime, got a lot more stops and kind of put them away."

IUPUI received contributions from all over the roster as Thomas closed with 16 on 8-of-10 from the foul line. Chiles chipped in 13 points and Gaines added 15 points and five boards. Barksdale made numerous key plays and closed with nine points, three assists and a career-high five steals in 28 minutes off the bench. He spelled Young for much of the second half with the IUPUI star saddled with four fouls.

The win was IUPUI's 10th in the last 11 games over UMKC and brought the Jaguars back to .500 for the first time since Nov. 15 of this season. The six-game winning streak matches the program's longest since the tailend of the 2009-10 campaign.

IUPUI will now hit the road looking for No. 7 as the Jaguars will take on IPFW at 7:00 p.m. inside Memorial Coliseum on Thursday (Jan. 5) night. Pregame coverage with Scott McCauley (pxp) will begin at approximately 6:50 p.m. on 1260 WNDE. His call can also be heard via the internet on WNDE.com and on smartphones through the free iHeartRadio app. The Jaguars come in seeking their first true road win of the season, having dropped their first five to start the year.