INDIANAPOLIS - Junior Marcellus Barksdale and his IUPUI teammates tried everything in their might to ruin a homecoming game for longtime head coach Ron Hunter and his Georgia State squad on Saturday afternoon (Nov. 29), but ultimately the visiting Panthers made plays down the stretch to escape with a 66-63 win at Fairgrounds Coliseum. Hunter's son, R.J., scored a game-high 27 points and his backcourt mate Ryan Harrow added 21 to lead Georgia State (5-2) to the victory. 

Barksdale pumped in 22 points to match his career-high, including hitting four treys in the loss. 

IUPUI (2-4) led 57-51 with 4:12 left after Barksdale swished his fourth trey of the game, but Georgia State scored the game's next eight points, including six from Hunter, to take a 59-57 lead with 1:42 left. The Jaguars had an immediate answer as P.J. Boutte rattled in a wing three with 72 seconds left, prompting Hunter to call timeout. Out of the timeout, the younger Hunter drilled his lone triple of the game to give GSU the lead for good. With time running out on the shot clock, the reigning Sun Belt Player of the Year came off a screen at the top of the key and stroked a 28-footer for the game's seventh lead change. 

IUPUI made things interesting when Boutte hit again to make it 64-63 with 14.2 seconds left, but Hunter calmly pushed the lead back to three at the foul line with 10.1 seconds left. On the Jaguars' final possession, redshirt freshman Leo Svete was well off on a hotly contested three and the Panthers ran out the clock to seal the win. 

"I'm proud of my team. I didn't think we played badly at all, we just made some mistakes down the stretch and it cost us. I told our guys though, I don't want them to hang their heads, we played a good game against a really good basketball team," Head Coach Jason Gardner said. "We're not happy with the loss, but I can tell you, we're continuing to get better and get tougher."

IUPUI got off to a strong start, building a quick 10-3 lead in the game's opening six minutes. Senior DavRon Williams fueled the strong start with four of his 10 points off the bench. Georgia State's tough defense sparked a 13-3 rally, capped by a Kevin Ware three-point play in transition. IUPUI got back on equal footing late in the half before ultimately trailing 27-26 at the break. The Jaguars managed just 5-of-23 (21.7 percent) from the floor in the first half, but hit 15-of-17 free throws before intermission. 

After trailing 29-26 after a Harrow layup, IUPUI scored seven quick points on a Josh James layup, Barksdale three and dunk in transition to build a four-point lead. The Jaguars maintained the lead for nearly 15 minutes in the second half before GSU's late charge. 

"As a leader of this team, I take responsibility for what happened down the stretch," Barksdale said. "I turned it over on the next-to-last possession and we didn't even get a shot up. That's on me and that's something I need to fix."

Aside from the late turnover, Barksdale was nearly flawless, hitting 8-of-9 from the field, including all four of his field goal attempts. He also grabbed five boards as IUPUI won the glass, 35-25. 

"I just told myself to relax and get back to having fun playing the game I know how to play," Barksdale said.

Williams just missed a double-double with 10 points and eight boards (four offensive) off the bench, while Boutte closed with 12 points and a career-high eight assists. James chipped in six points while no other Jaguar tallied more than five. Sophomore Elijah Ray grabbed seven defensive boards in just 15 minutes work against the taller GSU frontline. IUPUI was without senior guard Khufu Najee for the second straight game due to injury. IUPUI hit 15-of-21 (71.4 percent) from the field in the second half, including 7-of-9 (77.8 percent) from three-point range. The Jaguars finished at 45.5 percent overall and 8-of-16 from deep, but went without a free throw in the second half. 

While Harrow and Hunter combined for 48 of GSU's 66, Ware was next in line with six points, six rebounds and four steals. For Ware, it was a much less celebrated homecoming as Indianapolis was the site for his horrific lower leg injury when he was a member of the Louisville Cardinals two seasons ago. Georgia State shot 44 percent overall and just 2-of-13 (15.4 percent) from three-point range. The Panthers outscored IUPUI 36-18 in the paint and 27-12 off turnovers. IUPUI committed a season-high 24 turnovers on Saturday. 

"We've got to take better care of the basketball," Gardner said. "I thought sometimes they did a good job of speeding us up, but still, we needed to make smarter plays and be stronger with the ball."

Both Ware and Markus Crider had four steals for GSU while Hunter finished with three. 

IUPUI will have a full week off before playing its next two games away from home. The Jaguars will take on Evansville on Saturday, Dec. 6 at the Ford Center in an 8:05 p.m. tip-off. The game will be heard on WNDE 1260 AM as Will Flemming (pxp) is on the call of that contest.