MACOMB, Ill. - The IUPUI basketball team dropped a key Summit League contest at Western Illinois on Saturday night (Jan. 28) as the Jaguars fell to the host Fighting Leathernecks, 78-69. The two teams entered play tied at 3-5 in the league standings. 

Senior Darell Combs scored 16 of his game-high 21 points after halftime and Ron Patterson hit 5-of-7 treys on his way to 17 points. Junior Aaron Brennan rounded out the double-digit scorers with 12 points off the bench. The loss snapped WIU's four-game losing streak while extending the Jaguars' current skid to three-in-a-row.

Dalan Ancrum led WIU (7-13, 4-5 Summit) with 20 points and Garret Covington added 16 points. Mike Miklusak finished with a double-double for the victors with 13 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. 

IUPUI (9-14, 3-6 Summit) went ahead 59-57 with 4:49 left when Brennan rattled in a wing three, but WIU scored the game's next eight points to take control down the final stretch. Covington answered Brennan's three before Ancrum added to the lead with a pair of free throws. WIU freshman C.J. Duff contributed an old fashioned three-point play to put WIU ahead 65-59 with just under three minutes to play. 

The Jags were able to creep within four on two different occasions, but were unable to force stops late as the hosts secured the win.

"It's frustrating because we put ourselves in position to win, but just haven't been making plays late," IUPUI Head Coach Jason Gardner said. "It's not for a lack of effort, but we just haven't executed late in games and that's been the difference in a number of games. That's been the story of the season.

"The good news is that we have seven games left before the (Summit League) tournament and four of those are at home. We have a lot of work to do still, but I think our guys are up to the challenge. We've got to get better defensively and string together stops in order to get where we want to be. Give (WIU) credit, they made the plays late and we didn't."

The game included seven ties and eight lead changes, the last of which falling in WIU's favor. Western shot 52 percent from the field and held IUPUI to just 41 percent, despite hitting 10-of-27 (37 percent) from three-point range. It was the fifth straight game an IUPUI foe shot better than 50 percent from the field and seventh time in nine league games. Brandon Gilbeck feasted on the inside against an undersized IUPUI front line, hitting 7-of-9 shots to close with 15 points. Western Illinois made 4-of-6 second half three-point attempts and finished the game 6-of-17 (35.3 percent). 

IUPUI struggled offensively from the outset, resulting in the team's lowest scoring output since Dec. 20 at Northwestern.

An otherwise abysmal shooting first half was made palatable by a 6-of-15 effort from beyond the arc in the opening 20 minutes. Patterson did much of the work on his own, hitting 4-of-5 first half hoists to get into double-digits quickly. That said, Western Illinois took a 30-29 lead to the lockerroom as neither team gained separation before the break. 

The Jaguars will return home to host Summit League leader North Dakota State on Wednesday night (Feb. 1) at 7:00 p.m. inside Indiana Farmers Coliseum. Wednesday's game will be aired on ESPN3 as Greg Rakestraw (pxp) and Hall of Famer Bob Lovell (analyst) are on the call. In addition, the game will be heard on 97.5 Fox Sports FM, 1260 WNDE and the iHeartRadio app as Morgan Adcock (pxp) is on the call.