Box Score I Box Score (.pdf) I Photo Gallery I Video Highlights I Todd Howard Postgame

INDIANAPOLIS - The IUPUI basketball team closed the 2011-12 home slate with an emphatic 88-70 Senior Night win over the University of South Dakota inside the Jungle on Wednesday (Feb. 15) evening. Senior Christian Siakam led four Jaguars in double-digits with 17 points and nine boards and classmate Alex Young pumped in 16 points, five assists and four steals in the win. The third senior, Stephen Thomas, hit 4-of-5 from three and closed with 14 points and five assists for the hot shooting Jags.

"The seniors were phenomenal," IUPUI head coach Todd Howard said. "Senior night is always tough. There's a lot of emotions with family and friends and just the reality of it being the last time in this building to play.

"You don't know what to expect, but they responded in every way possible. They rebounded, they shared the ball with 21 assists and with a combination of getting to the (free throw) line a lot. You couldn't script a better way to go out."

IUPUI (12-16, 6-10 Summit) connected on better than 60 percent overall and 10-of-17 (58.8 percent) from three while handing out 21 assists on 35 baskets.  

Louie Krogman led USD (9-16, 4-12 Summit) with 24 points and seven assists and Trevor Gruis closed with 15 points and seven boards.

The win avenged an earlier loss to the Coyotes in Vermillion back in January and was the Jaguars third straight home win.

Thomas staked IUPUI to an early 6-2 lead with threes on the Jaguars' first two offensive trips, but USD answered back and took a 9-8 lead on a pair of Gruis free throws at the 16:18 mark. From there, it was all Jaguars though as IUPUI opened up an 13-2 run to take the lead for good. The run began on a lob from Thomas to Ian Chiles with the latter dropping in the layup and drawing a foul heading into the game's first media timeout. Siakam and Young combined for the next eight points before junior Sean Esposito capped the burst with his first of four treys.

Even after USD crept within five at 28-23 with just over six minutes left before halftime, IUPUI landed a knockout blow before the break. Donovan Gibbs swished a pair of free throws, allowing the Jaguars to employ the full-court press. The move worked as Chiles collected a steal at midcourt and had nothing but freedom in front of him. However, the high flyer opted to toss a pass off the backboard to the trailing Young, who hammered home a two-handed slam.

Moments later, Young collected a steal near midcourt and fed Esposito for an open three to open up a 35-23 lead. Then, after Siakam blocked a Gruis attempt underneath, Thomas tracked down the rebound and fired a bullet pass ahead to Chiles who rocked a one-handed dunk. The lead swelled to 17 in the first half before the Jaguars ultimately settled for a 46-31 halftime lead, marking the highest first half scoring output since the season opening win over Anderson.

The Jaguars were seemingly on auto pilot in the second half, finally taking a 20-point lead just more than six minutes in. USD got as close as 14 at 53-39 at the 16:53 mark, but Thomas answered by swishing an open three from the left wing. A 10-2 run pushed the lead out to 23 at the 12:53 mark to represent IUPUI's largest lead of the night. With the big lead, Howard was able to substitute out all three seniors to separate ovations in the final 2:27 of the contest.

Siakam hit 8-of-11 shots and blocked a pair of shots in just 29 minutes work. Thomas was an efficient 5-of-8 shooting and tied his career-high with four treys while Esposito, his high school teammate, was 4-of-6 from beyond the arc off the bench. The 6-foot-3 guard matched his career-high with four rebounds as IUPUI owned the glass, 31-25. The rebounding advantage led to a 17-10 edge in second chance points and a 44-28 advantage in points in the paint. Both Lyonell Gaines and Chiles finished with eight points each and Gibbs tallied seven points and a blocked shot in just 11 minutes off the bench.

"It's been different pieces," Howard said. "Not only Alex, Christian and Steph have upped production and consistency, but it's been Sean Esposito or it's Donovan (Gibbs). Lyonell and Marcellus as freshmen have been great.

"Ian's really been steady. He's guarding great players every night and he's producing on the other end. He's on the glass, he gets loose balls and he's a tough defender."

Krogman, who had 271 threes in his career entering Wednesday's game, hit 6-of-11 from deep and 8-of-19 overall. USD's top scorer Charlie Westbrook finished with 14 points, but scored all his points in the final 13 minutes. The 6-foot-4 guard had tallied a career-high 32 points in the first meeting between the two schools.

IUPUI closed the home slate with an 11-5 mark including a pair of wins at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Wednesday's win was the Jaguars' fourth in five games.

"I think we're super hot. We're as hot as any team in the league," Howard said. "We want to be playing well in February with momentum for March."

Howard's squad will return to action on Saturday (Feb. 18) when the Jaguars take part in the Sears BracketBuster X and travel to Thibodeaux, La. to take on Nicholls State of the Southland Conference. That game is scheduled to tipoff at 4:30 Eastern with pregame coverage on WNDE 1260 beginning at approximately 4:20. Scott McCauley's (pxp) call will also be heard on WNDE.com or through the free iHeartRadio app available on smartphones. As part of the Sears BracketBuster, IUPUI will host Nicholls State sometime next year and later host a home opponent to be determined in mid-February 2013.