INDIANAPOLIS - The first half of this basketball season has been all about learning how to win under first-year Head Coach Jason Gardner. On Saturday (Jan. 10), his Jaguars made enough plays down the stretch to pass the test, outlasting Denver 52-49 inside Indiana Farmers Coliseum. Junior Marcellus Barksdale was the lone Jaguar to finish in double-digits with 10 points, five boards and three assists and Khufu Najee added nine points in the victory. 

Cam Griffin led Denver (7-10, 1-3 Summit) with 15 points and preseason Player of the Year Brett Olson chimed in with 13 points on 4-of-6 shooting. With the victory, IUPUI (6-11, 2-1) matched its win total from each of the past two seasons and exceeded its league win total just three games deep into the conference schedule. 

"This was a game we felt we had to win, especially coming off the game at Oral Roberts," IUPUI Head Coach #ason Gardner said. "We want to be able to take care of our home court and that was the case today. It wasn't pretty, but for us to be successful, we kind of play those, tough, ugly games. Credit our guys though, they made the plays and got out of here with the win."

It was Barksdale who led the charge down the stretch with the score tied at 46 all with 1:27 to play. The 6-foot-5 guard rebounded a three-point miss and was fouled with 53.6 seconds left, leading to two makes at the charity stripe. On Denver's next possession, Barksdale collected a steal near midcourt and raced the other way for a transition opportunity. Although he missed the contested drive, freshman D.J. McCall tipped-in the miss to put IUPUI ahead by four with 19.9 seconds left. Olson cleverly drew a foul with just more than 10 seconds left to cut IUPUI's lead in half and the Jaguars inbounded to Mason Archie, II, who was immediately fouled. 

Archie split the pair, leading to a late learning opportunity. Four days prior in a similar situation, IUPUI opted to defend Oral Roberts on the final possession and the Golden Eagles sank an improbable trey before winning the game in overtime. This time, Najee fouled Olson with 3.3 seconds left, putting the Pioneers in a precarious situation. Olson made the first and missed the second, but a DU player batted the rebound out of bounds, giving the Jaguars possession. From there, Najee split two freebies with 2.3 seconds left and a halfcourt desperation three at the horn was well off the mark as IUPUI improved to 5-2 in games decided by five points or less. 

"I like that we've been able to win some of these close games," Gardner said. "I'd like for them to not necessarily be so close, but a win is a win."

The first half was seemingly powered by Ambien as both sides struggled to find energy, and subsequently, buckets. The first 11 minutes yielded a combined 13 points and just four field goals before DU's Jalen Love got loose for a two-handed dunk in transition. IUPUI broke the game's third tie with a Leo Svete trey to go ahead 12-9 and carried the advantage all the way to halftime. An 8-0 IUPUI run felt like an avalanche as the Jaguars built a nine-point lead before settling for a 20-13 halftime edge. 

Denver drew first blood in the second half with an early 11-2 burst giving the Pioneers a 24-22 lead at the 15:50 mark. Senior DavRon Williams came off the bench to steady the ship with a tip-in, blocked shot and assist in a 34-second span to put the Jaguars in front 26-24. Denver regained the lead briefly on a Griffin layup, but the Jaguars scored the game's next four points and maintained the lead until Olson's second three of the day tied the score at 40 all with 4:44 left. 

The game finished with nine ties and seven lead changes with Denver never leading by more than two points. 

Williams finished with seven points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots as IUPUI dominated the glass 34-18 and 10-3 off the offensive glass. Despite the rebounding advantage, Denver rode its Princeton-style offense to a 34-24 scoring advantage in the paint. After making 12 threes at Fort Wayne earlier this week, Denver connected on just 3-of-10 long-range attempts on Saturday. Similarly, IUPUI kept the driver in the bag and opted for the short game, hitting just 2-of-5 from deep and 46.3 percent overall for the game. Junior P.J. Boutte had six points, four boards and two assists in his return to the lineup. Marcus Byrd had seven points and a team-high five rebounds off the Denver bench, which as outscored by IUPUI's reserves, 24-9. 

IUPUI improved to 2-1 all-time against Denver and 3-3 at home this season. 

The Jaguars will hit the road for its next two Summit League games, beginning with a Wednesday night (Jan. 14) tilt at South Dakota State at 8:00 p.m. Eastern. That game will be heard on WNDE 1260 AM as Will Flemming (pxp) is on the call from inside Frost Arena.