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INDIANAPOLIS - Limited to just seven scholarship players, the IUPUI men’s basketball team saw its losing streak slide to five after a 78-40 defeat by Summit League leader North Dakota St. Thursday night (Jan. 17) at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. TrayVonn Wright led NDSU (16-3, 7-0 Summit) with 16 points and seven rebounds and Lawrence Alexander added 11 points.

The Jaguars' primary bright spot was junior center Mitchell Patton, who headed IUPUI (6-15, 1-6 Summit) in scoring with 17 points, followed by junior P.J. Hubert's eight points, both off the bench. Patton hit 6-of-13 shots and grabbed four rebounds while playing his most minutes since Dec. 1.

The Jags started off slowly, falling into an early 10-0 hole and NDSU never really let the hosts get off the ground. Senior Sean Esposito finally put the Jags on the scoreboard just over six minutes into the game when he sank a deep three. Facing one of the nation's top defensive teams, IUPUI was held to just 18 first half points, well below the Jags' norm.

After falling behind by as many as 14 early, IUPUI clawed within six at 24-18 with just under six minutes left before halftime. Hubert made it an eight-point deficit by making 2-of-3 free throws on a three-shot foul and Patton made it six with a soft 12-footer. However, NDSU scored the final 14 points of the first half and the first eight points of the second half to go ahead 46-18. NDSU opened the second half with an Alexander jumper, followed by Wright and Mike Felt threes to bury the Jaguars.

NDSU led by as many as 43 in the second half and the Jaguars trailed by at least 30 for the final 14-plus minutes. All 11 Bison tallied at least one field goal and six different NDSU players hit a three. Wright was 4-of-6 from three-point range and Brett Vanderbergh hit both of his three-point attempts off the bench.

The visiting Bison found the Indiana Pacers' home floor to its liking, hitting 12-of-23 (52.2 percent) from three-point range and 57.4 percent overall. NDSU had 22 assists on its 31 baskets and turned the ball over just six times, despite playing without its leading scorer, Taylor Braun.

Conversely, IUPUI hit just 31.1 percent from the field and 4-of-17 (23.5 percent) from deep in the loss. Esposito and Hubert combined to hit 4-of-7 three-point attempts while the rest of the roster went empty on 10 attempts. The Jaguars' starting five contributed just 11 of the team's 40 points with Esposito leading the group with six points and four assists. IUPUI's 40 points were the fewest in school history, eclipsing the previous mark of 41 set on multiple occasions.

Coming off his second career double-double, junior Donovan Gibbs tied his career-high with three steals for the second straight game, but was limited to just two points and six boards in 34 minutes work.

The loss dropped the Jaguars to 8-6 all-time at Bankers Life Fieldhouse and 8-5 when serving as the host school. IUPUI also dropped to 7-4 all-time against North Dakota State and 3-3 against the Bison in Indianapolis.

IUPUI will return to The Jungle for the first time since Dec. 15 when the Jaguars host South Dakota State (14-6, 5-2 Summit) in Summit League action on Saturday (Jan. 19) at 3:00 p.m.. The game will be televised locally on HTSN as Greg Rakestraw (pxp) and IUPUI Hall of Famer Bob Lovell (analyst) are on the call from courtside. In addition, the game can be heard on WNDE.com and through the free iHeartRadio app as Scott McCauley (pxp) describes the action. His pregame coverage will begin around 2:45 p.m..