Box Score | Box Score (.pdf) | Box Score (.html) | Photo Gallery I Video Highlights

INDIANAPOLIS - The IUPUI basketball team came up on the wrong side of a game of nip-and-tuck, dropping a 62-56 outcome to Nicholls State inside The Jungle on Wednesday (Dec. 18) night, despite putting four players in double-digits. Senior center Mitch Patton scored a game-high 15 points and junior Ian Chiles chipped in 13, while sophomore guard Marcellus Barksdale registered his first career double-double of 10 points,10 boards and four assists. Junior Khufu Najee rounded out the double-digit scorers with 12 points. 

T.J. Carpenter led three Nicholls (3-5) players with 14 points off the bench and Dantrell Thomas contributed 13 points and seven caroms. 

The back-and-forth game featured 11 ties and eight lead changes, but the Colonels took the final lead by virtue of a 11-3 run over the final four minutes. Carpenter hit three of his four triples in the game's last five minutes, propelling Nicholls to the win and a split in the home-and-home series that begin with the Jaguars' trip to Louisiana as part of the 2012 Sears BracketBuster event. 

IUPUI (4-9) led 53-51 with 4:04 to play when Najee split a pair of free throws, but Carpenter immediately answered with a three off an Amin Torres assist. On the Jaguars next possession, Thomas picked Barksdale's pocket near midcourt and raced to the other end for a high-flying one-handed slam, giving Nicholls a three-point edge. 

The Jaguars missed clean looks on four straight offensive trips and Nicholls' forward Sam McBeath made it a two-possession game when he dropped in a layup with 2:22 left. IUPUI finally stopped the bleeding with 56 seconds left when Barksdale split a pair of free throws, but needing a stop, the Jaguars got the exact opposite this time. Nicholls' point guard Shane Rillieux hit Carpenter for an open trey at the top of the key, making it a 61-54 bulge. 

IUPUI broke a five-minute stretch without a field goal when Chiles scored on a jumper with 18.7 seconds left, but it was too little, too late. Trailing by five, the Jaguars nearly picked off the inbounds pass, but a sure steal slipped through Barksdale's hands and back to Nicholls, allowing the visitors to break the full-court press and draw a foul. McBeath split a pair of free throws to cap the game's scoring and end the night's frustrations. 

The Jaguars hit just 38.5 percent from the floor and 64 percent from the free throw line. IUPUI was 0-for-12 from three-point range, going without a triple for the first time since an 0-for-8 performance at Saint Louis on Nov. 27, 2010. 

Despite the errant shooting, the Jaguars had chances to win.

"We drove the ball at a high level," IUPUI Head Coach Todd Howard said. "But timely missed free throws and not finishing stops by rebounding will always doom you. To overcome 0-12 from three is a task, and we did, but they made plays down the stretch."

Defensively, IUPUI limited Nicholls to just 40 percent overall and 6-of-20 from deep. Carpenter was 4-of-9 from three, but hit his final four attempts after missing his first five. 

"Our guys really defended at a high level," Howard said. "To hold them to 40 percent was something we needed to translate into points."

Despite losing the glass 39-33, the Jaguars outscored Nicholls 32-22 in the paint and 12-5 off turnovers.

"Ian and Marcellus do a lot," Howard said. "We need guys to hit the glass, make free throws and make layups. We had a lot of tough breaks tonight."

Nicholls depended largely on its bench, getting 30 points from its reserves. McBeath, who's been slowed by injuries in the season's early going, closed with seven points and nine boards for the Colonels and J'Dante Frye added six points. 

Senior Donovan Gibbs was IUPUI's top reserve with four points and seven rebounds in 29 minutes work. 

The game was close throughout as neither team led by more than seven points. IUPUI built a six-point lead at 15-9 midway through the first half on a Najee jumper, but Nicholls State immediately scored five straight on a McBeath jumper and a Pedro Maciel trey. 

Nicholls ultimately took a 26-24 halftime lead, fueled by a Frey three-point play in transition late in the half. 

The loss was the Jaguars' second straight and dropped IUPUI to 1-3 all-time against the Colonels. 

IUPUI will hit the road for back-to-back games before the Christmas holiday, beginning with Saturday's game at Indiana State at 3:35 p.m. Eastern. The game will be televised in the Terre Haute-area on WTWO-TV. In Indianapolis, the game will be heard on WNDE 1260 AM and worldwide on the free iHeartRadio app available on smartphones. Will Flemming (pxp) will be on the call from courtside at the Hulman Center.