Box Score I Box Score (.html) I Box Score (.pdf) I Photo Gallery I Video Highlights I Todd Howard Postgame I Marcellus Barksdale Postgame

INDIANAPOLIS - Sophomore Marcellus Barksdale scored a career-high 17 points and senior P.J. Hubert pumped in 14 off the bench as IUPUI outlasted North Carolina Central, 71-65 inside The Jungle on Saturday (Dec. 7) afternoon. Junior Ian Chiles chipped in 14 points and senior center Mitch Patton rounded out the double-digit scorers with 11. 

The win was the Jaguars' second straight, both coming against opponents ranked among the nation's top 60 in RPI. In doing so, IUPUI did what NC State, Old Dominion and four others hadn't, and that was pluck the Eagles. 

"That win (at Bradley) right there was huge for us," Barksdale said. "It was our first game of December - we had a very tough November and we just kind of wanted to wipe the slate clean, start fresh at Bradley and try and go on a stretch of games here and go on a run before the new year."

Alfonzo Houston led NCCU (6-2) with 24 points and seven boards and Jeremy Ingram scored 16, albeit on 6-of-18 shooting and 2-of-11 from three-point range. The Jaguars held their second straight opponent under 40 percent from the floor and under 20 percent from deep, using an active zone defense to keep the Eagles from getting clean looks. NCCU finished at 39.7 percent overall and a paltry 3-of-21 (14.3 percent) from three-point range. Ingram came in ranked eighth in the country in scoring at better than 24 a game, but was held to four points in the first half before closing with 16.  

"On tape, (NCCU) put up a lot of points," Barksdale said. "We really want to pride ourselves defensively. We set a goal of keeping them under 40 percent and I thought we did a very good job of that. We kind of bent a little in the second half, but we didn't break." 

"I thought the defensive effort was really good," IUPUI head coach Todd Howard said. "To hold that team, with some prolific scorers and great offensive prowess, to under 40 percent, I thought took a lot of effort.

"That's a team that's going to go to the NCAA Tournament. I really feel they'll win their league - they've won at NC State, they won at Old Dominion, they've got talent, they've got size and they've got a lot of pieces. This is a good win for us."

IUPUI (3-7) made 41.7 percent for the game and 5-of-9 (55.6 percent) from deep. Hubert was a perfect 3-of-3 from downtown, all coming in the first half. 

The Jaguars used the three-point line to build a first half lead, surging ahead 13-5 when Chiles drilled a 27-footer, prompting an NCCU timeout less than eight minutes in. The lead grew to 13 later in the half when Hubert hit back-to-back treys, the second coming when he caught a Donovan Gibbs feed, shot faked a defender and slid to his left before swishing a delivery. 

If the first half was more of a run-and-shoot attack, in the second half IUPUI resembled a team slogging through the mud, grinding out possessions and earning trips to the line on drives to the basket. The Jaguars made just seven second half field goals, but went 24-of-31 at the free throw line to finish the game 26-of-33 (78.8 percent). NCCU was just 12-of-16 (75 percent) at the line. 

After leading by as many as 14 in the second half, the game came down to some tense moments over the final 10 minutes. IUPUI saw a 62-49 lead evaporate in just more than two minutes as NCCU closed to 62-59 on an Ingram three off an out of bounds play with 5:25 left. 

Needing a stop, junior Khufu Najee came up with a key steal and transition layup - his only basket of the game - with 4:32 to play to make it a two possession game. However three trips later, the Eagles closed within one at 64-63 when the 6-foot-3 Houston bulled his way to the rack. 

On IUPUI's ensuing possession, Barksdale called his own number, methodically working through the NCCU full-court press all the way to the rim for a three-point play after absorbing a hit from Jay Copeland. Barksdale completed the three-point play on a day in which he hit 9-of-11 freebies. 

After yielding a Houston layup, Patton split a pair of free throws with 55 seconds left and Ingram missed a pair with 37.1 seconds to play, forcing the Eagles to foul. IUPUI hit 3-of-6 freebies inside the final 31 seconds and NCCU missed all three of its three-point attempts as the Jaguars held on for a six-point victory. 

"Our guys really answered every attempt they made at us," Howard said. "The seniors were phenomenal. P.J., Donovan and Mitch looked like seniors in a Division I, December basketball game. That's how good seniors play and they were outstanding."

Gibbs came off the bench with seven points and five boards and Patton grabbed six boards in 37 minutes work. Hubert finished 4-of-4 overall and scored 11 of his season-high 14 in the first half. 

So far in December, IUPUI has logged a pair of six-point wins over strong opponents, limiting them to a combined 35.4 percent shooting and 14 percent from three-point range. 

"December's always been good to us in terms of practice," Howard said. "We talked to the group about it briefly about being out west twice already in the first three weeks of the season, and one of those weeks you don't practice for almost a whole week. We're where we are right now because of the tests we've faced and the challenges we've faced. 

"Now we're starting to answer some of those test questions correctly - we're starting to meet some of those challenges and now it's about practice. We want December to be about us."

The Jaguars will continue the two-game December homestand on Tuesday (Dec. 10) when they host Cincinnati Christian inside the Jungle at 7:00 p.m.. The game can be heard on WNDE 1260 AM and on the free iHeartRadio app as Will Flemming (pxp) calls the game from courtside. Additionally, fans can watch online on the IUPUI LIVE! subscription service. Tickets are just $10 for adult reserved seats and IUPUI students are admitted for free with a valid JagTag.