MILWAUKEE, Wisc. - The IUPUI basketball team overcame a 13-point first half deficit and staved off a late Milwaukee rally to knock off the reigning Horizon League champions, 70-68 at Panther Arena on Wednesday night (Nov. 19). The win was the first for Head Coach Jason Gardner, complete with some late tension and clutch performances. 

IUPUI (1-2) went in front 65-59 with 29 seconds left when freshman D.J. McCall swished his second trey of the game, but Milwaukee (1-2) immediately answered with a Steve McWhorter trey. From there, Milwaukee played the foul game to extend the contest, fouling Davidson-transfer Mason Archie, II. Archie hit the front end of a one-and-one opportunity, putting IUPUI ahead by four. With the Jaguars overplaying the three-point line, Milwaukee got an easy layup from J.R. Lyle with 12 seconds left and fouled Archie again. Archie splashed both, but Milwaukee made things interesting with a Cody Wichmann three with 5.9 to play. 

After Archie made his fourth and fifth free throws in the final 30 seconds, IUPUI opted to foul on the next trip. However, Khufu Najee was called for an intentional foul with 3.2 seconds left near midcourt. McWhorter split the attempts to make it 70-68 and the Panthers had an inbounds opportunity on the far side. However, Najee stole the inbounds pass and raced the other way to seal Gardner's first win. 

"I'm really proud of our guys," Gardner said. "It feels good to get that first (win). Mason had been sitting a long time, but really stepped up and hit those free throws when it counted. Really, everyone contributed to the win though. I thought P.J. played really well in the second half, I thought DavRon had a really good game and D.J. made plays again tonight. 

"Credit our guys, they were tough when it mattered the most."

Senior DavRon Williams finished with his first collegiate double-double with 11 points, 11 rebounds and four assists, while both McCall and Marcellus Barksdale scored 10 points each. Archie added nine in the victory for the balanced IUPUI attack. McWhorter and Lyle scored a game-high 19 points each in the defeat. 

IUPUI won the glass 39-32 and despite being outsized, outscored Milwaukee 32-30 in the paint. 

"The rebounds really showed our toughness tonight," Gardner said. "I thought we hit the glass hard, especially in the second half."

The game was played at breakneck speed from the word go as Milwaukee built a double-digit lead less than nine minutes in on a Wichmann wing three. IUPUI finally gained traction later in the half, mainly through rebounding and limiting turnovers. The Jaguars got down 30-17 after Lyle hit a short jumper at the 6:51 mark, but a brief 6-0 run capped by an Archie jumper cut the Milwaukee lead to seven. The hosts answered with back-to-back baskets, prompting Gardner to call timeout and address his squad. IUPUI responded by cutting the lead to five on two different occasions, but a defensive lapse on the half's final possession allowed McWhorter to get loose for a 14-foot bank shot with four seconds left, making it 40-33 at the break. 

Milwaukee opened the second half with a three-point play opportunity by Matt Tiby, but the Panthers' forward was assessed a technical foul for taunting after the basket. After missing the free throw attempt, Tiby fouled Williams on the Jaguars' offensive trip, earning his fourth personal in the process. He was relegated to the Milwaukee bench for the final 19 minutes of the night. 

After trailing by as many as nine after halftime, IUPUI didn't take a lead until Josh James scored in close with 4:44 to play. McWhorter answered with a 17-footer to give the Panthers a 59-58 edge, but the Jaguars scored the game's next seven points and never relinquished the lead. Williams punctuated the spurt with a dunk off a nifty Boutte find with two minutes to play. 

Boutte finished with seven points, five assists and three steals, almost exclusively in the second half. The Detroit-transfer played only three minutes before halftime due to foul trouble. 

IUPUI will return home to host Ball State (1-1) on Saturday afternoon (Nov. 22) at 1:00 p.m. inside the Fairgrounds Coliseum. The game can be seen in Central Indiana on Hometown Sports & News (HTSN) as Greg Rakestraw (pxp) and Hall of Famer Bob Lovell (analyst) have the call from courtside. In addition, the game will be heard on iHeartRadio as Morgan Adcock (pxp) describes the action. Tickets are still available by clicking here, visiting the Coliseum box office or any Ticketmaster outlets. In addition to the on-court action, national recording artist and former IUPUI basketball player Mike Archer (MikeArcher.com) will perform the national anthem before the game and a brief set at halftime of Saturday's contest.