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

INDIANAPOLIS -  Playing without reigning Summit League Player of the Week Mitch Patton, the IUPUI basketball team fell just shy of a thrilling comeback win over Evansville inside the Jungle on Tuesday (Nov. 12), ultimately falling 84-78. IUPUI trailed by as many as 12 points, but rallied all the way back in the second half before coming up short. 

"We've told the guys, keep your heads up," IUPUI Head Coach Todd Howard said. "We've learned - we've grown.

"You'd love to say, 'boy, as well as Mitch Patton is playing, coming off a 26-point outing against some grown men, I just know what he would've done here.'"

In Patton's absence, junior guard Ian Chiles scored a career-high 28 points in 38 minutes and Khufu Najee added 19 points in the loss. Evansville's D.J. Balentine matched his career-high with 29 points and both Blake Simmons and Duane Gibson scored 15 each for the Purple Aces. Simmons helped bury the Jaguars late, hitting a three from the left wing with 2:01 to play as the shot clock expired, extending UE's four-point lead into a 76-69 advantage. 

IUPUI (0-2) found itself in a 12-point first half hole after a Ryan Sawvell layup made it 36-24 with 4:29 left before halftime. However, the Jaguars ripped off a 12-4 run behind Chiles and Najee before going into the locker room trailing 44-38. Midway through the second half, UE (2-0) had built its lead back to 63-52 before IUPUI responded with a haymaker of its own. 

After a pair of Najee free throws cut the lead back to eight with 6:56 to play, senior Donovan Gibbs collected a steal at the point of the Jaguars' full-court press and immediately dropped in a layup to cut the lead to six. On the Purple Aces' ensuing possession, Najee picked Simmons' pocket and raced the other way for a flurry of IUPUI attempts. After the Jaguars missed two fast break chances, IUPUI opted to reset the offense which eventually led to a Chiles three. 

IUPUI capped the 11-0 run with a Chiles 16-footer and a Najee layup to take a short-lived lead at 66-65. Evansville scored the game's next four points on a pair of Duane Gibson free throws and a Jaylon Moore layup, but Chiles countered with another three to tie the score at 69 all. 

Evansville landed the knockout blow with a 7-0 run over the game's next two minutes, capped by Simmons' three as the shot clock expired. Even as Chiles hit two more late threes, Evansville was deadly accurate at the foul line to stave off the Jaguars. Evansville was a perfect 17-of-17 at the free throw line in the second half and finished the game at 28-of-31 (90.3 percent). The Jaguars left at least nine points at the foul line, going just 14-of-23 (60.9 percent) in the loss. All total, 47 fouls were whistled against the two teams as the NCAA is attempting to cut down on hand checks and impeding the ball handlers. Seven different players had at least four fouls and starting point guard Marcellus Barksdale fouled out in the closing seconds. 

"I like high volume fouls," Howard said. "The new emphasis with hand checking favors us. It always will and always has. It stops the game and provides some stoppages and with that, we missed free throws. 

"That was our Achilles heel. It's hard to press when you miss those front ends (of one-and-ones). Free throws are the press' best friend."

Gibbs finished with 18 points and a game-high nine caroms while Justus Stanback, starting in place of Patton, added six points and four rebounds. Barksdale had seven rebounds and a pair of assists in 29 minutes of action. The bench contributed just four points as both Ja'Rob McCallum and Elijah Ray got their first career buckets in an IUPUI uniform. 

Chiles hit 11-of-21 shots overall and 4-of-10 from deep, scoring 17 points after halftime. 

"I was driving the ball (in the second half)," Chiles said. "In the first half, I was kind of settling for the three-point shot and in the second half I came out driving the ball and that's really what really got me going. After that, I knocked down a couple three pointers and from that point on, I was just going.

"We've just got to get our chemistry together, but we'll be all right."

"You want (Chiles) to get the ball on close out reversals and be hard to guard," Howard said. "Guys are taking a running start at him trying to guard him and he's just too good off the dribble. Khufu is the same way. They fit how we play.

"I thought Marcellus did his role. He did a good job defensively and was on the glass again and it was there."

Adam Wing had eight points and eight rebounds for the Purple Aces and Sawvell had seven points off the bench. UE big man Egidijus Mockevicius was largely ineffective with six points, three boards and two blocked shots in 21 foul plagued minutes. 

The loss dropped IUPUI to 0-2 all-time against Evansville and snapped the Jaguars' streak of 13 consecutive wins in home openers. Evansville had lost 13 straight road openers before Tuesday's win. The schools are scheduled to play in Evansville next season as part of a home-and-home series. 

IUPUI will continue the current three-game homestand when the Jaguars host SEMO at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday (Nov. 16) inside The Jungle. That contest can be heard on WNDE 1260 AM as Scott McCauley (pxp) will call the game from courtside. Fans can also watch the action as part of the IUPUI LIVE! subscription service on IUPUIJags.com. Adult reserved seats are $10 and children 12-and-under are just $7.