Photo Gallery I Todd Howard Postgame

INDIANAPOLIS - Junior college transfer Khufu Najee hit a running 24-footer from the left wing as time expired, sending his white team to a thrilling 82-81 victory in the 3rd annual Red-White Scrimmage inside The Jungle on Wednesday (Oct. 23) night. 

Najee finished with 19 points on 7-of-14 scoring to lead all players. 

The first half was a true split-squad scrimmage with Najee and redshirt freshman guard Cortell Busby staking their squad to a 45-36 advantage. At intermission, the squad was then mixed into a first unit and second unit with the first teamers trailing by the 45-36 score. 

"I liked how we formatted it," IUPUI Head Coach Todd Howard said. "We split it up even in the first half and took kind of a top group in the second half and gave them the deficit score.

"It presented a lot of learning opportunities, game situations, that you can't really do at practice with the same intensity."

Senior #P.J. Hubert# was the lone player in double-digits for the white squad in the first half, hitting for 11 before halftime. 

The white team crept all the way back near the end of the eight minute third quarter, finally going in front on a Patton layup with 49 seconds left. However, North Carolina Central-transfer DavRon Williams finished the third quarter with a three-point play, putting the red team back in front 55-53. 

The first teamers used an 11-2 run to turn a 61-58 deficit into a 69-63 lead with 2:22 left, capped by a Patton tip-in. Ja'Rob McCallum scored the first six points of the rally with back-to-back layups, followed by a 17-footer from the right wing. 

However, the red team used the free throw line to extend the game and almost escaped with the victory. Jalen McCallum matched a Hubert three with 1:09 left, cutting the white lead to 72-70, prompting a timeout. Patton scored four points in succession to make it 76-70, but Williams responded with another three-point play to cut the lead in half. 

Najee kept the reserves alive by missing the front end of a one-and-one and Elijah Ray countered with a pair of makes of his own at the free throw line. The white team led 79-77 with just more than nine seconds left after McCallum split a pair of free throws, but Detroit-transfer #P.J. Boutte# flipped the lead with a cold blooded dagger from the right wing with 3.7 seconds left. 

After a full timeout, the white team put the ball in Najee's hands, with the lefty's momentum moving towards the frontcourt after catching the inbounds pass. The California-native worked against Busby going up the near sideline, eventually getting his feet under him to pull-up an off-balanced trey. The shot hit nothing but net, gaining a loud reaction from the heavy student population in attendance. 

Busby, Boutte and Patton all finished with 18 points and Hubert had 17 on 5-of-6 shooting from three-point range. Senior Donovan Gibbs added 14 points and Ja'Rob McCallum added 13, 12 coming in the second half.  

Freshman Josh James had 10 points and eight rebounds and Justus Stanback had eight points and five caroms. The teams combined to shoot 13-of-33 (39.4 percent) from three-point range and 39-of-47 (83.0 percent) from the foul line. 

"Some guys really shined," Howard said. "I was very pleased with how the perimeter performed. I thought the action was controlled - it was realistic. Sometimes you get in these events and it's rippin' and roarin' and just kind of an open gym, summer league, and that doesn't help you. 

"This looked like kind of a league game intensity in score and pace and just played the right way across the board. I was very pleased."

The Jaguars will open the exhibition slate on Saturday, Nov. 2 when they host Kentucky State at 3:00 p.m. inside The Jungle. Fans looking to purchase single-game or season tickets should contact John Rasmussen at 317-274-5453 or jrrasmus@iupui.edu.