INDIANAPOLIS - The IUPUI basketball team trailed by as many as 22 in the second half and saw a late comeback attempt fall short in a 73-64 loss to Eastern Kentucky inside Indiana Farmers Coliseum on Saturday afternoon (Dec. 13). Junior Mason Archie, II, led the Jaguars with 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting and freshman Aaron Brennan chipped in 11 points and three assists in the loss. Meanwhile, Corey Walden led three EKU (5-3) players in double-digits with 20 points, seven boards, six assists and four steals. Eric Stutz added 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting and Ja'Mill Powell contributed 14 points and three steals in the win. 

IUPUI (2-7) lost for the fifth straight time as turnovers continued to plague the Jags in the season's early going. On Saturday, IUPUI turned it over 19 times total and 11 times in the second half, leading to EKU's 26-16 edge in points off turnovers. Eastern Kentucky came in as the nation's leader in turnover margin at nearly plus-15 per contest and ramped up the pressure from the outset. EKU's defense helped build an early 19-11 lead when Walden fired a long three from behind a screen for one of his four triples.

IUPUI was down 29-22 with 4:40 left before halftime and the road got even tougher when junior P.J. Boutte was ejected for a flagrant foul against Walden. After a turnover near midcourt, Boutte retreated and pulled the EKU guard down from behind on a fast break opportunity. After Walden missed both free throws, the EKU lead went to nine on a Timmy Knipp hook. Rather than cower, the Jags closed an inspired first half with a 10-5 rally to pull within two at the break. Brennan put the Jags ahead 32-31 with 33 seconds left with a thunderous two-handed dunk, but Walden swished a contested three at the final horn for a 34-32 advantage. 

EKU responded by outscoring the Jaguars 27-7 to start the second half, thanks largely to five IUPUI turnovers in the opening four minutes.

"It was more so about our errors," IUPUI Head Coach Jason Gardner said. "I think we kind of started throwing the ball all over the gym and we were throwing it right to them."

Powell and Knipp hit consecutive threes to make it a double-digit lead and Jaylen Babb-Harrison later stroked an open trey to make it 47-37. 

"It's hard when you get down by 12 or 14 points to come back and get back in the game. I thought we did a good job to come back and get a good lead, but that start to the second half just killed us," Gardner said.

Down 61-39, IUPUI scored 12 straight including a back-to-back threes from Marcellus Barksdale and Leo Svete to get back within 10 with 5:39 left. Svete cut the lead back to eight with his second trey with 2:28 left and the Jaguars had a chance to continue to chip away after Brennan collected a steal, but Barksdale was called for a charge on the ensuing possession. Svete misfired on a second opportunity to cut the lead to five with just more than a minute to play, but came up short while immediately led to a Knipp breakaway dunk. 

EKU shot 59 percent from the field in the second half and 55 percent overall for the game, making 26-of-47 attempts and 10-of-24 (41.7 percent) from three-point range. Five different EKU players made at least one trey in the win. IUPUI matched its season-high with 49 percent from the field and 6-of-19 (31.6 percent) from downtown. Svete finished with nine points and both Williams and Barksdale closed with eight each.

Archie, who had just five assists this season prior to Saturday, handed out a career-best seven assists, but committed seven turnovers. Both Brennan and McCall handed out three assists each in extended minutes. 

"I think it hurt us a little bit because it forced a lot of other guys to play the point," Gardner said of Boutte's ejection. "Cellus is tired, D.J. (McCall) is tired and Mason ended up playing some point and Jalen (McCallum) ended up playing some point, so we ended up doing something we don't normally do.

"With that kind of pressure, it kind of wears at you for awhile and with (P.J.), he's a one-man press breaker. (P.J.) definitely grabbed him. I know he wasn't trying to intentionally hurt him and I think more so he was frustrated off the turnover."

Both teams collected 14 steals as the two sides combined on 40 turnovers overall. 

IUPUI will be back in action on quick turnaround as the Jaguars will open the Gotham Classic at Howard on Monday (Dec. 15) at 6:00 p.m.. That game will be heard on WNDE 1260 AM as Will Flemming (pxp) calls the game from courtside in Washington, D.C.