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RICHMOND, Va. - The IUPUI basketball team had a second straight upset bid fall short on Friday night (Nov. 16) as the Jaguars fell in game two of the Fort Myers Tip-Off at Richmond, 78-70. IUPUI led by as many as 13 points in the first half and held a one-point lead at the break, but had its offense slowed in the second half as it was outscored 49-40 after the break. Richmond led by 14 with 2:09 to play, only to see the Jaguars cut the margin back to four in the final minute. 

Jacob Gilyard scored a career-high 31 points for Richmond (2-1) and Nick Sherod tossed in 22 for the victors. Camron Justice led four IUPUI (2-2) players in double-digits with 14 points and Evan Hall added 13 points and five boards. D.J. McCall had a season-high 11 points and six rebounds and Jaylen Minnett contributed 10 points off the bench. 

IUPUI shot a season-high 52 percent from the field, but had 15 costly turnovers. At one point, Gilyard scored 14 straight Richmond points as the Spiders turned a two-point deficit into a 48-42 lead with 12:32 to play. 

"We made way too many mistakes to come in here and try and get a win on the road," IUPUI head coach Jason Gardner said. "You've got to give Coach Mooney and his staff all the credit. We came out aggressive and threw the first punch, but they never really panicked and just stuck with what they do. They kind of settled in defensively and made things hard for us in the second half. 

"We came into this tournament hoping to get one of these two games and that's what we did. After we won up at Boston College, we got a little greedy and wanted to get both of these games. It's a tough trip to take on two quality teams back-to-back like this, but I'm proud of what our guys have shown in the early part of the season. We've got a lot of fight and a lot of toughness in us."

IUPUI opened the game 8-of-12 from the floor in building a 25-12 lead late in the first half. Elyjah Goss punctuated the early burst with a two-handed slam off a gorgeous Minnett bounce pass with 5:55 left before the break. However, Richmond responded with a 12-2 run with Grant Golden scoring eight points during the rally. Hall stopped the run with a tough layup inside, but Golden followed with a bunny of his own on the final possession of the half to make it 30-29 Jags at the break. 

IUPUI enjoyed a 36-32 lead early in the second half after McCall split a pair of free throws, but Richmond responded and went ahead for good when Gilyard nailed back-to-back triples, the second of which put the hosts ahead 42-40 as part of his 14 straight points. 

Each time IUPUI got close, Gilyard answered. 

Nick Rogers made it 58-54 with 6:03 to play before Gilyard drove down the right side and tossed in a circus shot in an attempt to draw a shooting foul on McCall. 

The Richmond faithful began to file out of Robins Center with just more than two minutes to play when the Jaguars made things interesting. The Spiders led 70-56 with 2:09 remaining, but IUPUI rattled off seven points in 16 seconds, thanks in large part to a full-court press. IUPUI crept within four with 28 seconds left, but Richmond made enough free throws late to stave off the Jaguars. 

IUPUI will continue play in the Fort Myers Tip-Off just after the Thanksgiving holiday as they'll play St. Francis Brooklyn on Friday, Nov. 23 at 7:00 p.m. in Niagara, N.Y. The Jags will then face either host Niagara or Grambling State on Saturday, Nov. 24 to conclude the four game event.