INDIANAPOLIS - The IUPUI basketball team put up a complete effort in a return to its home floor as the Jaguars blasted past Miami, 78-64 at Indiana Farmers Coliseum on Saturday afternoon (Dec. 5). Junior Darell Combs led the way with 20 points on 4-of-7 shooting from three-point range and Marcellus Barksdale added 11 points and five boards in 30 minutes of work.

IUPUI (3-6) outrebounded Miami 40-27 and shot a respectable 46.3 percent from the floor while limiting the guests to just 38 percent overall and 25 percent from three-point range.

"We were more unselfish with the basketball today and that led to a lot of good, open shots," IUPUI Head Coach Jason Gardner said. "When we move (the ball) like that, we're much harder to defend. We got a lot of uncontested shots and that was the difference."

"Today it was about getting in the paint, getting paint touches and sharing the ball," Combs said. "That was the main thing we talked about all week in practice. Getting in the paint and kicking it out and sharing the ball. When we play together, we're a pretty good team."

The Jaguars led 35-28 at the break and exploded out to an 11-2 run to start the second stanza to take a 16-point lead. Matt O'Leary opened the run with a trey and Combs punctuated by swishing an open triple off an Evan Hall assist, making it 46-30 with 17:23 left. Miami Head Coach John Cooper called timeout and his troops immediately responded with a furious 18-4 run to cut the Jaguars lead back to two in just more than four minutes. MU's Zach McCormick capped the run with a wing three, forcing Gardner to call timeout.

IUPUI countered with seven quick points on back-to-back Combs baskets and an Aaron Brennan layup to regain traction and a nine-point lead. The lead expanded to 11 with just more than seven minutes to play on a Nick Osborne floater and the Jags maintained a double-digit lead the remainder of the game.

"We made that big run but they came back at us and I thought we did a good job of keeping our composure and staying poised, especially against their press," Gardner said. "All of our guys handled it pretty well. We never really panicked and threw it all over the place. Even the freshmen did a good job of handling it and making good decisions and making the easy plays."

Miami came in forcing more than 18 opponent turnovers per game but the Jaguars committed just 14 miscues, leading to 11 RedHawk points.

Senior guard Eric Washington scored a team-high 18 points for the RedHawks and delivered five assists while Geovonie McKnight added 11 points and six boards on just 4-of-15 shooting. LJ Livingston added 10 points and seven boards off the Miami bench.

After listless starts of late, IUPUI brought instant energy on Saturday as Osborne opened with a drop step dunk on the opening possession, but it turned out to be a double edged sword as Jordan Pickett was immediately hit with a technical foul after the play for taunting, giving Miami two free throws. The RedHawks pulled out to a 9-4 lead before an 8-0 Jaguars' run put the Jags in front towards the middle of the middling first half.

Combs, Hall and freshman T.J. Henderson provided life over the latter part of the half, including a pair of Combs treys that helped turn a one-point lead into a seven point advantage.

Brennan finished with a season-high 10 points and six boards (four offensive) and Hall challenged for a double-double with eight points, seven boards and a team-high three assists. Osborne added nine points and nine caroms while playing only 16 minutes because of foul troubles. IUPUI also rectified another recent bugaboo, making 22-of-24 (91.7 percent) free throw attempts and making more freebies (22) than Miami attempted (17).

"We've lost at least two games at the free throw line this season, so I've challenged our guys to step up and make them when the opportunities are there. It's about mental toughness and concentration and that's something that can be fixed. We've talked about it but it was good to see us step up and do it today," Gardner said.

Saturday's win was the Jaguars' first-ever over the RedHawks in five meetings.

The Jaguars will now hit the road for three straight beginning with a meeting at nationally ranked Purdue on Monday (Dec. 7) at Mackey Arena. That game will be televised on ESPNU as Adam Amin (pxp) and Craig Robinson (analyst) are on the call. In addition, that game can be heard on IUPUIJags.com as Morgan Adcock (pxp) describes the action from courtside.