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INDIANAPOLIS - Junior Camron Justice scored a game-high 20 points and led five Jaguars in double-figures as IUPUI outlasted a pesky Western Illinois squad, 82-68 inside Indiana Farmers Coliseum. Senior center Ahmed Ismail closed with a career-high 17 points and nine boards off the bench and sophomore Elyjah Goss registered his second career double-double with 13 points and 10 boards. 

Sophomore Kobe Webster paced Western Illinois (4-7) with 19 points and C.J. Duff tossed in 13 points and five assists. 

"I thought this was a good team win for us. I think we knew if we stuck with the gameplan and continued to do what we do, we would be okay," head coach Jason Gardner said. "They made some tough shots in the first half and you have to give them credit for that. I thought they did a really good job on Cam [defensively], but Cam was good about letting the game come to him and trusting his teammates to make plays. Guys like Elyjah and Ahmed stepped up and really got them in foul trouble inside. Once we got their bigs in foul trouble, I thought we could really attack them going downhill and get some good looks and get to the free throw line.

"I'm proud of the guys for how we closed it out and finished it today. Cam hit some big time shots late in the game and we got a lot of stops down the stretch. That's what winning teams do."

The Jaguars came out flat to start the second half and Western Illinois capitalized, building a 48-39 lead with 16:58 remaining. IUPUI didn't score a second half bucket until Justice knocked in a trey at the 15:53 mark to cut the Leathernecks' lead down to six. Ultimately, the Jaguars' energy came in the form of Ismail, the tallest player in the program's near 50-year history. IUPUI put together a 20-4 run to turn the nine-point deficit into a seven-point lead. 

The go-ahead bucket came on Ismail's first career trey as the attempt kissed every inch of the tin before dropping to give IUPUI a 51-50 lead. He followed with a two-handed slam off a Grant Weatherford assist before Weatherford added two free throws on the next possession. Ultimately, Western Illinois would fire back and take the lead on a Brandon Gilbeck layup with 6:59 to play. However, IUPUI closed with a 21-6 run, including the final 12 points of the contest, to close out the win. 

Justice fired in a pair of pivotal treys in the final five minutes and initiated an impressive dunk from Evan Hall that all but sealed the victory. Justice slipped a pass to his high school teammate, who threw down a dunk over WIU's Isaac Johnson to essentially close the win. After a timeout, he knocked in the free throw to push the lead out to double-digits for the first time all day. 

IUPUI (8-3) shot 47 percent overall and committed just seven turnovers in a relatively efficient offensive effort against a typically stout defensive squad. After leaving eight points at the free throw line in the first half, the Jaguars made 13-of-15 second half attempts to end the game at 68 percent. At the other end, IUPUI held Western Illinois to just 32 percent in the second half and outscored the Leathernecks 43-28 after the break. 

Western Illinois was determined to slow down Justice from the opening tip, as evidenced by the Leathernecks' quick timeout after the Jags' top scorer pumped in the team's first five points. From there, WIU turned Justice into a distributor as he went without a field goal for the remainder of the half, but dished out six assists. Goss and Ismail picked up the slack, combining to hit all seven of their first half field goal attempts and tally 19 points before halftime. Despite the effort, Western Illinois had a 40-39 lead at the break. 

IUPUI's second half run came largely with Ismail, Justice, Weatherford, Jaylen Minnett and Jack Hansen on the floor. Weatherford finished with 13 points and four assists and went a third straight game without a turnover. Minnett had seven points off the Jaguars' bench, which outscored WIU's reserves 24-14. 

IUPUI will hit the road to face another Summit League foe, Purdue Fort Wayne, on Tuesday night (Dec. 21) inside Allen County War Memorial Coliseum at 7:00 p.m.. That game can be heard on IUPUIJags.com as Morgan Adcock (pxp) is on the call.