DENVER - After trailing by as many as 13 in the first half, the IUPUI basketball team showed incredible perseverance, rallying for a thrilling 54-53 win over Denver inside Magness Arena on Saturday night (Feb. 14). Senior DavRon Williams scored 13 of his team-high 15 points in the second half and Khufu Najee added 10 points and six boards in the victory. 

Saturday's win snapped the Jaguars' four-game losing streak and gave IUPUI a series sweep of Denver (10-15, 4-8 Summit). 

"We've been hungry; we've stayed hungry," Williams said. "We were a little disappointed in how we played against IPFW, so it was good for us to come out and give a better effort today."

IUPUI (9-17, 5-7 Summit) was down 30-17 in the closing seconds of the first half before Mason Archie stroked an open wing three, essentially as the horn sounded. The momentum most certainly carried over to the second half as the Jaguars outscored Denver 9-2 in less than three minutes to pull within three. However, IUPUI didn't pull even until there were just under 11 minutes to play when Josh James capped a 7-0 run by splitting a pair of free throws. 

Seemingly each time the Jaguars made a run, Denver answered, but IUPUI ultimately had the last laugh. 

A Williams alley-oop off an inbounds play tied the score at 40 all with 8:21 remaining, but he missed the ensuing free throw and Denver countered with back-to-back treys. Junior Marcellus Barksdale answered the second trey with an old fashioned three-point play, but DU's Bryant Rucker pushed the lead back to five with an uncontested layup off a back screen. 

However, Denver went nearly three minutes between baskets as the Jaguars rattled off six points in succession to take a 49-48 lead with 2:53 left. Williams sandwiched layups around a pair of Najee free throws to give the Jaguars their first lead in more than 30 minutes. DU's Marcus Byrd tied the game by hitting the first of two free throws, but the Jags took the lead for good with 1:11 left with Williams at the foul line. 

Williams hit the first of two free throws and the Jaguars rebounded the second as Najee tied up Cam Delaney, earning a jump ball call. Given an additional possession, the Jaguars cashed in when Barksdale was fouled trying to tip-in a Williams miss. The veteran hit both free throws, putting the Jags ahead by three with 38.7 seconds left. Najee drained a pair of key freebies with 12.8 seconds left and the Jaguars opted to foul Denver's Brett Olson with 5.1 seconds left, rather than allowing a potential look at a game-tying three. 

Olson hit both, but IUPUI was able to inbound to P.J. Boutte near midcourt and run out the clock to seal the win. 

"We needed this win," first-year Head Coach Jason Gardner said. "I thought we played well, especially in the second half. We did a better job of defending them out to the three-point line and we made an effort to get the ball inside to our bigs. When we throw it in there, good things happen. 

"I'm happy for our guys because they've been working so hard, but not getting the results recently. Today, they earned this one. It wasn't pretty at halftime, but there were a lot of smiles (in the lockerroom) afterwards."

Offensively, IUPUI worked almost exclusively on the interior, shooting 43 percent for the game while attempting a season-low four treys. Williams was 7-of-9 from the floor for the second straight game and finished one point shy of tying his career-high of 16 points. The Jaguars outscored the Pioneers 30-22 in the paint and 10-3 on second chance points, thanks largely to Williams' work. 

"I try to stay ready for when the ball comes in there," Williams said. "I try to make it easy (for the guards) to get it in there to me."

Najee was a perfect 4-of-4 from the foul line while Barksdale finished with eight points in 34 minutes. Freshman D.J. McCall tallied seven points with five coming in the 9-2 run at the start of the second half. 

Olson was Denver's lone double-digit scorer with 18 points on 6-of-12 shooting. Denver made five first half treys to build the 10-point halftime advantage, but went just 2-of-5 in the second half. Nate Engesser closed with eight points, five rebounds and four assists and both Byrd and Rucker scored seven points apiece. 

IUPUI improved to 7-3 in games decided by five points or less and won for just the second time this season when trailing at the half. It was also IUPUI's first win of the year when shooting a lower percentage from the floor than their opposition. 

IUPUI will return to action on Thursday, Feb. 19 when the Jaguars take on North Dakota State in Fargo, N.D., at 8:00 p.m. Eastern. That game will be heard on WNDE 1260 AM and the iHeartRadio app as Will Flemming (pxp) calls the action from Scheels Arena.