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Ja'Rob McCallum
Dennis Hubbard

McCALLUM'S CAREER-HIGH NOT ENOUGH AS JAGS DUMPED BY MOCS, 87-76

Senior Ja'Rob McCallum scores a career-high 25 points off the bench in loss

11/29/2013 5:21:00 PM

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LAS VEGAS - All five Chattanooga starters scored in double-figures led by Z. Mason's 27 points and nine boards as the Mocs picked off the Jaguars, 87-76 in the final round of the 2013 Continental Tires Las Vegas Invitational inside Orleans Arena on Friday (Nov. 29). Casey Jones and Gee McGhee scored 14 each for the Mocs (3-5) and both Greg Pryor and Lance Stokes finished with 13 apiece. 

Senior Ja'Rob McCallum hit 8-of-13 shots to close with a career-high 25 points and Ian Chiles chipped in 15 in the loss. Junior Khufu Najee tallied 13 on just 5-of-14 shooting as the Jaguars were held to 45.6 percent from the floor. 

Chattanooga shot a blistering 58.8 percent overall and outrebounded the Jaguars 37-21. 

IUPUI (1-7) was down by 15 early in the second half, but nearly stormed all the way back thanks to a 14-1 run. Chiles scored on back-to-back possessions before Najee came up with a steal near midcourt and raced in for an uncontested lay-in. After another defensive stop, the Jaguars fed Mitch Patton for a left-handed layup, cutting the Chattanooga edge back to 57-50 with 13:04 to play. 

Freshman Justus Stanback stroked a jumper on the Jaguars' next offensive possession before Stokes split a pair of freebies to give the Mocs a six-point lead. Najee answered with a layup and Donovan Gibbs cut the lead back to two on a tough drive with just under 11 minutes left. However, it seemed as though the Jaguars expended a lot of energy in the comeback against Chattanooga's noted CHAOS scheme, patterned after VCU's recent success. 

Chattanooga scored the game's next six points, punctuated by a Mason three, to stretch back out to an eight-point lead and IUPUI would get no closer than six over the final 10 minutes. 

IUPUI scored the game's very first basket on a Najee layup, but Chattanooga rattled off a 13-0 run, forcing Howard to request a pair of timeouts. After the second timeout, his troops responded with a 12-1 run to knot the score at 14 all near the midpoint of the first half. Chiles hit a pair of threes during the run, but was sidelined moments later after picking up his second personal foul at the 13:37 mark of the half. After the Jaguars tied the game, the Mocs churned out a 21-6 run, capped by a Jones dunk at the 5:41 mark. 

With Chiles sidelined, McCallum became the focal point of the Jaguars' offense, scoring 12 straight IUPUI points during one stretch. Chattanooga led 45-33 at the half before extending out to 15 early in the second frame. 

"For the first time all year, first half fouls absolutely killed us," IUPUI Head Coach Todd Howard said. "Chiles played six first half minutes and Patton played only 10."

Mason, who began his career with the Ole Miss football team, bulled his way through the Jaguars defense to hit 12-of-18 shots and 3-of-5 from three-point range. Jones was 6-of-9 overall and grabbed nine rebounds while McGhee did the bulk of his damage at the foul line, hitting 7-of-8 tries. Mason helped UTC to a 44-36 advantage on second chance points and 15-2 margin in second chance points. 

The Jaguars' were outrebounded by 16 on Friday, marking the largest deficit on the glass since Feb. 14 of last season when South Dakota State outrebounded IUPUI 40-21 in Brookings, S.D.. Gibbs and Patton went a combined 4-of-8 on the inside, but teamed to grab just four rebounds in 45 minutes work. Patton was sidelined for much of the game due to foul trouble and closed with a season-low four points. 

"It's tough when your front line is outscored 40-10," Howard said. 

McCallum was the only IUPUI player to find their range on Friday, as Chiles was just 6-of-15 from the floor. McCallum, in his first year of eligibility after transferring from Milwaukee, had a previous best of 23 points at Youngstown State on Feb. 26, 2011. The 6-foot guard was playing with a heavy heart, having learned of the death of his grandfather just prior to Thursday's game with Gardner-Webb. 

The loss was the Jaguars' fourth straight as IUPUI went winless during the four-game Las Vegas Invite. 

IUPUI will continue the string of five straight games away from home when the Jaguars head to Peoria, Ill., to face Bradley on Wednesday, Dec. 4 at 8:30 p.m. Eastern (7:30 Central). Because of the Purdue men's basketball game that night, the contest can only be heard on iHeartRadio as Will Flemming (pxp) will be on the call.
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