DENVER - The IUPUI basketball team hit a stumbling block on the road at Denver on Thursday night (Feb. 4), falling to the host Pioneers 53-51 inside Magness Arena. The loss snapped the Jags' four-game winning streak and moved the squad out of a first-place tie in The Summit League standings.
Joe Rosga led Denver (12-11, 4-6 Summit) with 16 points and Christian Mackey added 11 points off the bench, seven of which came at the free throw line. Senior
Marcellus Barksdale paced IUPUI with 14 points, five rebounds and three assists and
Jordan Pickett added 11 in defeat.
"I'm disappointed because we had an opportunity to keep a winning streak going and get another road win," IUPUI Head Coach
Jason Gardner said. "We just stopped executing and took some bad shots in the second half. We got away from what's been working for us and it cost us tonight. That's all there is to say.
"I thought we did a pretty good job defensively, but offensively, we didn't get the job done."
IUPUI (11-14, 7-3) led 40-25 with 16:08 to play after Barksdale scored in transition after a
Matt O'Leary steal and the Jags seemed prime for a fifth straight win and a fifth consecutive victory over the Pioneers. However, the Jags went just 3-of-16 from the field from that point forward, allowing Denver to pull off the improbable comeback. The Jags still maintained an 11-point lead with less than 10 minutes to play before Denver scored eight straight points to make it a one possession game. Rosga tied the score at 48 all with 2:20 to play with a running one-hander and Thomas Neff put the hosts in front with a long trey with 64 seconds remaining.
The Jaguars turned it over on the ensuing possession as Pickett was called for an offensive foul. However, the Jags got a much needed defensive stand when
Aaron Brennan blocked a Mackey attempt, setting up an opportunity to tie or take the lead. However, Barksdale missed a short bank shot from the right side with 5.7 second left. After making a free throw to make it a three-point lead, Denver opted to foul in the backcourt, rather than give the Jaguars an attempt at a game-tying trey. The strategy worked, helping the hosts secure the win.
After torching Denver to the tune of nearly 70 percent from the field in the first meeting, IUPUI made just 36.7 percent on Thursday night, including a 2-of-11 (18.2 percent) effort from three-point range. The Jags went just 6-of-21 (28.6 percent) in the second half and finished with 14 turnovers. Denver closed the game shooting 41.5 percent overall and just 2-of-16 (12.5 percent) from three. The Pios missed their first 14 three-point attempts of the game before Rosga connected with just more than five minutes remaining. Neff then sank the go-ahead trey in the closing minutes.
Both teams got off to a sluggish start offensively, combining on just six points in the opening five-plus minutes. A
Mason Archie three-point play sparked the Jaguars and later, Pickett scored five points without the Pioneers getting the ball across midcourt, prompting the hosts to call timeout. Even a potentially disastrous turn of events in which IUPUI was called for a personal foul and then
Darell Combs was whistled for a quick technical, resulted in minimal damage. Denver made three of the four awarded free throws, but went empty on the ensuing possession and the Jags retaliated by scoring the game's next five points.
T.J. Henderson buried a contested trey and Barksdale followed with a pull-up jumper to extend the lead to 10. The Jaguars led 30-21 at the half and outscored Denver 10-4 to start the second half to build the 15-point lead.
O'Leary finished with eight points and seven rebounds while Brennan contributed six points and a career-high seven rebounds. Combs, IUPUI's top scorer, was held scoreless, going 0-of-4 from the field in 29 minutes of action.
IUPUI will continue the two-game road trip at South Dakota State on Saturday night (Feb. 6) in a game that will tip-off at 8:00 p.m. Eastern inside Frost Arena. IUPUI won the earlier meeting between the two schools in Indianapolis, 74-67 back on Jan. 7.
