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VALPARAISO, Ind. - Senior John Hart scored 18 points and junior forward Donovan Gibbs added 11 points and seven boards, but host Valparaiso opened the second half with a 27-4 run to roll away with an 89-69 win over the Jaguars inside the Athletics-Recreation Center on Thursday (Dec. 20) night.

Reigning Horizon League Player of the Year Ryan Broekhoff led five Crusaders in double-digits with 17 points and nine boards and both Kevin Van Wijk and Matt Kenney added 15 each.

Despite falling down by as many as 21 midway through the second half, the short-handed Jaguars fought back to pull within eight with 5:29 left after Ian Chiles swished a pair of free throws. However, Valparaiso (8-4) responded by scoring the game's next seven points including a Broekhoff three-point play with 4:02 left to essentially end any suspense.

With IUPUI (4-10) junior center Mitchell Patton sidelined for the third time in four games, the Crusaders made an immediate effort to get the ball inside from the outset. Van Wijk, a 6-foot-8, 240-pound center, hit all four of his first half field goal attempts from in close. Equally important for the hosts, he drew a slew of fouls against the Jaguars, one of which sent Hart to the sidelines with nearly nine minutes to go before halftime.

Like gnats on a giraffe, the Jaguars used peskiness to help offset the size disadvantage in the first half, repeatedly driving around defenders to open up the floor offensively. IUPUI hit five of its first six field goals and led by seven in the game's early going.

Even with Hart, the team's top scorer, on the bench, the Jaguars stayed in the game behind some timely baskets from sophomore Lyonell Gaines and a couple of late threes from Jordan Shanklin. The Jaguars, who came in struggling to shoot the basketball, found the ARC rims to their liking and shot 50 percent in the first half. Included in that was a 6-of-9 three-point effort, with four different players hitting a trey.

Despite the torrid start, IUPUI still trailed 40-38 at the break.

"It was a super effort out of the gates," IUPUI Head Coach Todd Howard said. "I'm very proud of that type of toughness and unselfishness. (At Valpo) was a hornet's nest and our guys responded."

However, the Crusaders began imposing their will on the Jags at the start of the second half, ultimately outrebounding IUPUI 40-22 and outscoring the undersized guests 16-2 off second chance points. The Crusaders also outscored the Jaguars 52-22 in the paint and had 18 assists on 32 baskets.

After IUPUI scored the first two baskets of the second half to retake a brief lead, VU countered with the decisive 27-4 run to take command. A five-point trip capped by a Broekhoff three prompted Howard to call his first of three timeouts in the first eight minutes after halftime. IUPUI was only down nine with 14:16 left, but eight straight VU points had the Jaguars reeling.

Down 67-46 with 11:08 to play, senior Greg Rice scored eight straight including a three and a three-point play to quickly make the deficit more manageable. Kenney stopped the bleeding momentarily, but Gibbs came back with a three-point play and disqualified Van Wijk in the process with 6:45 left. Senior Sean Esposito hit a twisting layup with the shot clock winding down on the next offensive trip and Chiles cut the lead to single-digits at the 5:29 mark before VU rattled off seven straight.

"We cut it to eight in the second (half), but the glass was our demise," Howard said. "It's tough to go on the road to another veteran, experienced team. That team has played together and played together. Us being short-handed offers an opportunity for the next man up, but gives you zero room for error.

"I loved our execution for 25-28 minutes. For the most part, I thought we played super road basketball - a lot was done well on our parts."

Rice had 11 points, reaching double-figures for the first time in over a month, and Chiles tossed in 10 on just 3-of-10 shooting. IUPUI was a perfect 14-of-14 from the foul line, including a 5-of-5 effort from Gibbs, but didn't earn nearly enough trips to the stripe. Valpo was 21-of-26 including five makes from both Van Wijk and LaVonte Dority.

Ben Boggs finished with 12 points and Indiana-transfer Bobby Capobianco contributed 10 points and seven boards (five offensive) off the bench. Valpo shot 49.2 percent from the floor, despite making just 4-of-22 (18.2 percent) from three-point range.

IUPUI opted to start four guards alongside Gibbs with Esposito scoring seven points before fouling out. After missing a week, junior #P.J. Hubert# played 11 minutes in the second half off the bench as Howard's club was limited to just eight healthy scholarship players.

IUPUI dropped to 8-16 all-time against former Mid-Continent Conference foe Valparaiso and 4-6 at games played at the ARC.

The Jaguars will continue the quick two-game, in-state road swing on Sunday (Dec. 23) when they head north on I-69 to take on Ball State (5-5) inside Worthen Arena in Muncie at 2:00 p.m.. Pregame coverage on WNDE 1260 is set to begin at 1:45 p.m. as Scot McCauley (pxp) will be on the call. Sunday's game will be the ninth all-time between IUPUI and Ball State with the host Cardinals having won six of the eight meetings on the hardwood.