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OMAHA, Neb. - Host Omaha used a 17-0 second half run to pull away from visiting IUPUI inside Ralston Arena on Thursday (Feb. 27) night, capturing an 88-66 win over the Jaguars. Junior Ian Chiles led the Jaguars with 20 points off the bench and Donovan Gibbs added 14 points and six boards in the loss. 

However, the Jaguars committed a season-high 21 turnovers, 13 of which came off Omaha steals, leading to 34-12 discrepancy in points off turnovers. More often that not, Omaha (16-13, 5-8 Summit) cashed in, hitting better than 52 percent from the floor and 44 percent from three-point range. 

Mike Rostampour led four Omaha players in double-digits with 18 points and nine rebounds, while Marcus Tyus tallied 17 points. Justin Simmons chipped in 15 and John Karhoff scored 13 in the victory. 

"We fought and fought and really capitalized to take a lead in the second half, but missing open shots and layups spell doom against a team this explosive and old," IUPUI Head Coach Todd Howard said. "The theme was there again in the second half - missed shots and empty trips via turnovers make it tough.

"Don and Ian were versatile and active. Those two made play after play."

IUPUI (6-24, 1-12) led 40-39 with 16:57 to play when Barksdale hit a short jumper, but a five-minute scoreless drought sent the Jaguars into a tailspin. By the time senior P.J. Hubert stroked a three off a Barksdale assist with just less than 12 minutes left, the Jaguars were in a 56-43 hole. After Hubert's make, Omaha scored the game's next six points and never let the Jaguars back in the contest. 

The Jaguars did well to make a game of it after falling behind 25-11 in the opening 10 minutes. UNO's Alex Phillips hit a couple of early treys to help build the 14-point lead, but Chiles came off the bench to spark the Jaguars, scoring 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting in the first half. IUPUI closed the first half with an 11-0 run to trail 35-34 at the break. 

Senior Mitch Patton began the run with a jumper and Barksdale split a pair of freebies to make it a nine-point game. Chiles then scored five points in succession on a trey and layup before Barksdale closed the half with an old fashioned three-point play. 

Junior Khufu Najee hit a jumper on IUPUI's first possession of the second half for the first of five lead changes prior to Omaha's decisive 17-0 run. 

Chiles, in his second game back from injury, hit 8-of-13 shots and 2-of-4 from three for his ninth career 20-point scoring effort. Gibbs was 6-of-12 overall for his 14 points and Barksdale added eight points, 10 boards and five assists. Patton was held to just four points, but blocked four shots to move to fifth on the program's all-time list. He leapfrogged both Jon Avery (82 blocks) and Billy Pettiford (83 blocks), upping his career total to 85. He trails former IUPUI standout Alex Young (89 blocks) for fourth place. 

The loss dropped the Jaguars to 0-4 all-time against Omaha and assured the Jaguars of the No. 7 seed in the upcoming Summit League Tournament. Howard's squad will play at 7:00 p.m. Eastern on Saturday, Mar. 8 inside the Sioux Falls Arena, but won't know their opponent until the dust settles on Saturday. North Dakota State (11-2) captured the regular season title with a win on Thursday and Fort Wayne (9-4) and South Dakota State (9-4) are tied for the No. 2 spot heading into their final regular season games. Fort Wayne plays at Omaha on Saturday and SDSU will host South Dakota. 

IUPUI will conclude the regular season at Western Illinois on Saturday (Mar. 1) with an 8:00 p.m. tipoff in Macomb. IUPUI leads the all-time series between the two schools 27-12, although the Leathernecks won the most recent meeting, 69-54 in Indianapolis on Jan. 30.