Box Score I Box Score (.pdf) I Todd Howard Postgame Audio

CEDAR CITY, Utah - The IUPUI basketball team executed a near flawless defensive gameplan as the Jaguars outscored Southern Utah 34-18 in the second half to claim a 66-53 road victory inside Centrum Arena on Saturday (Feb. 11) night. It marked the second straight year the Jaguars held the Thunderbirds to just 18 second half points as Southern Utah hit just 5-of-27 shots after halftime on Saturday.

Senior Alex Young scored 15 of his game-high 22 in the first half while sophomore Ian Chiles closed with 14 points and six boards in the win. Jackson Stevenett led Southern Utah (13-13, 8-8 Summit) with 13 points and six rebounds and Ray Jones, Jr. finished with 11 points and five assists.

"So many teams would've quit, thrown in the towel and given up having faced what our guys have faced so far," IUPUI head coach Todd Howard said. "These guys haven't, not even for a second in practice.

"We're playing great basketball in February and we knew we've got to have a (road) victory at some point as a result of it. We did it on the defensive end."

IUPUI (11-16, 5-10 Summit) sagged inside defensively, yielding the three-point line to the Thunderbirds while packing the paint around the SUU big men. The move worked as Southern Utah made just 1-of-17 attempts to start the second half, allowing the Jaguars to rip off an 18-5 run to take control of the game. Ten straight points turned a five-point deficit into a 42-37 lead on a Donovan Gibbs baby hook shot. The lead reached double-digits when Young hit back-to-back jumpers from the top of the key and later swelled to as many as 13 in the second half.

Southern Utah never seriously threatened late and the Jaguars were nearly flawless at the foul line down the stretch. IUPUI finished the game outscoring the T-Birds 23-12 at the free throw line, including hitting 23-of-29 (79.3 percent) attempts.

The win was IUPUI's first road victory of the season and helped the Jaguars escape a four-way tie with IPFW, South Dakota and UMKC. IUPUI ascended to the No. 7 spot in The Summit League standings as only the top eight seeds are invited to the next month's conference tournament in Sioux Falls, S.D..

On Saturday, Young staked IUPUI to an early 7-3 lead by hitting his first three attempts before Chiles got in on the act. The sophomore guard hit back-to-back triples to push IUPUI's advantage out to 13-7 with Young on the bench getting an early break. SUU countered with six straight points from Jones, Jr. beginning with a two-handed dunk. The Thunderbirds went in front 25-19 on a Stevenett bank shot but IUPUI later regained the lead at 33-32 on an Sean Esposito trey. However, the hosts closed the half with four straight points to claim a 35-32 lead.

After Southern Utah shot 54 percent in the first half, IUPUI packed the paint and dared the hosts to shoot the three. The move worked as Southern Utah finished just 3-of-12 (25 percent) from three and 19-of-53 (35.8 percent) overall.

"I thought our athleticism and depth were both really good," Howard said. "So many guys did their jobs to a T.

"Don's playing well, but so is Lyonell. Esposito came in and gave us some production and Greg Rice came in and gave us some really good minutes. More importantly, he's been giving us good minutes in practice." 

Offensively, IUPUI was just 9-of-17 from the floor, but made 16-of-21 free throws. Both Young and Chiles finished at 6-of-8 from the charity stripe and Christian Siakam was 5-of-6. Senior Stephen Thomas finished with eight points and three assists and played down the stretch on a sore ankle.

"He's tough," Howard said of his senior point guard. "We have a tough group. Stephen, Alex and Christian are tough, tough guys that are playing great basketball right now."

IUPUI finished up hitting 47.5 percent from the field and 5-of-12 (41.7 percent) from three. Young was 7-of-15 overall and 2-of-5 from three while Chiles hit both of his three-point attempts. The Jaguars also only turned the ball over eight times while forcing 12 SUU miscues.

IUPUI will return home and host the University of South Dakota on Wednesday (Feb. 15) night on Senior Night in The Jungle. Tipoff is slated for 7:00 p.m. while the senior class of Siakam, Thomas and Young will be recognized prior to the game. That contest can be heard in Indianapolis on WNDE 1260 as Scott McCauley (pxp) calls the game from courtside. His call will also be heard on WNDE.com and through the free iHeartRadio app available on smartphones. The game can also be watched live via the internet as part of the IUPUI LIVE! subscription service on IUPUIJags.com.