INDIANAPOLIS - The IUPUI basketball team earned a statement win on Thursday night (Jan. 7), picking off Summit League favorite South Dakota State, 74-67 inside Indiana Farmers Coliseum. The win snapped an 11-game losing streak to the Jackrabbits, who had earned road wins against Minnesota, TCU and Illinois State and entered play No. 36 in the RPI. None of it mattered on Thursday as junior Darell Combs led three Jaguars in double-digits with 18 points and three steals and Jordan Pickett scored 14 off the IUPUI bench. Junior Nick Osborne added 11 including a clutch three late in the game to help send the Jags to victory. 

Redshirt freshman Mike Daum led SDSU (13-4, 2-1 Summit) with a career-high 23 points and six boards and both Deondre Parks and George Marshall added 15 apiece. Reed Tellinghuisen added 10 points before fouling out. 

"I'm really proud of our guys, every one of them," IUPUI Head Coach Jason Gardner said. "We scrapped and clawed and fought and really earned this one. It was won on the defensive end. We've told them if they work on the defensive end and get stops that the other things will take care of themselves. 

"I think they saw that tonight."

Combs ignited a decisive 17-3 run as IUPUI flipped a 49-48 deficit into a 65-52 lead with just more than three minutes to play. Senior Marcellus Barksdale got things going with a steal near midcourt that led to a Combs three-point play in transition. After Marshall tried a quick answer at the other end, Osborne swished a cold blooded dagger from the left wing off a pretty Combs feed, putting IUPUI ahead by five.

"It was a pick-and-pop and I heard Coach (Nickerson) yelling 'Pop, Pop, Pop' so he knew I'd be open. Once I caught it, I felt confident that I would hit it," Osborne said.

Daum quieted the hosts by splitting a pair of free throws, but Combs reignited the flame by burying a long three as the shot clock expired with 5:51 left. IUPUI got another stop when Marshall misfired again and Barksdale continued the run with a nifty up-and-under move on the left block to stretch the lead to nine. 

The lead later grew to 13 when Mason Archie plucked a steal near midcourt and tried to throw down a punctuation dunk on the break, but was fouled on the play. The senior hit both with 3:19 left to cap the run. IUPUI (6-12, 2-1 Summit) made enough free throws down the stretch to knock SDSU from the league's undefeateds. 

"It was just an all around team effort," Gardner said. "The guys really bought in and played hard defensively. We got our energy from the defensive end and then carried it over on offense. We got some stops and then turned those into buckets."

IUPUI limited the Jackrabbits to just 41 percent for the game and a putrid 7-of-28 from three-point range. Marshall and Parks hit a combined 3-of-15 from deep while the Jaguars were a collective 5-of-12 (41.7 percent) from three-point range. IUPUI also finished at 84 percent from the free throw line, led by Pickett's 6-of-6 night. 

Most impressive was the Jaguars' work on the glass, outrebounding the Jacks 37-33 overall, aiding a 30-24 advantage in points in the paint. O'Leary had a game-high seven boards, including a key tip-in just before fouling out in the closing minutes. Barksdale added six defensive boards and both Archie and Osborne added five caroms each. 

"We knew we'd have to gang rebound and rebound from all five positions. I thought we went to the glass pretty hard and did a good job of limiting their second chances," Gardner said. 

SDSU opened the game with a quick 7-0 run and led by as many as eight before IUPUI began chipping away. An 8-0 IUPUI run midway through the first half gave the Jaguars their first lead. Pickett put IUPUI in front 18-17 on a gorgeous fallaway jumper and freshman T.J. Henderson extended the lead to four with a trey as the shot clock expired on the Jaguars' next trip. IUPUI ultimately led 30-28 at the break before SDSU opened the second half with a 9-2 burst to retake the lead. 

The game ended with six ties and seven lead changes.

Barksdale and Evan Hall scored eight each and Archie had five points and tied his career-high with five rebounds.  

IUPUI will hit the road on Saturday (Jan. 9) to take on Western Illinois inside Western Hall at 3:00 p.m. Eastern. That game will be heard in Central Indiana on 107.5 FM as Morgan Adcock (pxp) calls the action from courtside.