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MOREHEAD, Ky. - Another cold shooting night doomed the IUPUI basketball team on Friday night (Dec. 21) as the Jaguars knocked in just 35 percent from the floor in falling to Morehead State, 74-70. Playing in front of nearly 100 friends and family members, junior Camron Justice led the Jaguars with 20 points on 6-of-20 shooting and both Elyjah Goss and Jaylen Minnett tallied 11 apiece. 

Lamontray Harris led Morehead State (4-8) with 20 points and nine boards and Jordan Walker added 16. Malek Green added 13 points and 11 boards off the Eagles' bench and A.J. Hicks finished with nine points, nine assists and eight rebounds for the victors. 

The Jaguars expended all nine lives in the first half as they lost consecutive games for the first time this season. 

"We've got to be better than that. Plain and simple. It's really disappointing because we had a real chance to gain some momentum headed into Horizon League play," head coach Jason Gardner said. "I thought we took some rushed shots and we settled for some shots, rather than attacking them offensively. Those are some things that we really haven't done all year, but we did them tonight.

"Now we have to go on the road and play the best three teams in the league and figure some stuff out real quick. It's not going to get any easier, so we just have to look inside and get back to what we were doing earlier in the year."

IUPUI (8-5) had no business being in the game, much less leading at the break. The Jaguars opened just 5-of-21 from the floor and trailed 31-16 with just more than seven minutes left in the opening half. However, the Jags forced eight straight MSU misses at one point and rattled off a 21-5 run to close the half. The final two points came when Minnett stole an inbounds pass after a D.J. McCall layup and misfired on quick jumper from the right side. However, Goss swooped in and hammered a two-handed dunk, knocking a defender to the ground in the process to end the half with IUPUI in front, 37-36. 

During the run, McCall setup back-to-back Minnett treys to bring much needed energy to an otherwise lethargic effort. 

Justice then scored the opening four points of the second half, prompting an MSU timeout and it seemed as though the Jaguars had found their normal groove. MSU tightened the screws defensively, but the Eagles' self inflicted wounds helped IUPUI at times. Justice turned the ball over trying to go baseline and MSU's Djimon Henson taunted the Jaguars' top scorer, earning a quick technical foul. Justice split the pair to make it 44-38. It would be the Jaguars' largest lead of the night. 

Down the stretch, ultimately it was Morehead State that made more plays late en route to slightly sweeter eggnog this Christmas. 

The game was tied 66 all with 3:42 left when Justice split two more free throws, but MSU responded with a Harris dunk from the right side. IUPUI countered with a dunk of its own when Justice slipped a pass to a cutting Evan Hall for a game-tying dunk with 2:03 remaining. MSU took the lead for good when Walker banked in a runner with 1:37 left. 

IUPUI went empty on the other end when Minnett and Justice missed three-point attempts and a third opportunity resulted in Hall's kickout pass being picked off by Hicks. After running down the shot clock, Green scored in close for the Eagles to make it a two-possession game. IUPUI missed two more three-point attempts on the ensuing possession and was forced to foul when MSU secured the rebound with 18 seconds left. The door was still cracked after a pair of missed free throws and a Minnett putback made it a 72-70 margin, but Walker sank two final three throws to ice the game. 

Morehead State finished at 78 percent from the line while IUPUI limped to a 58 percent effort. Every IUPUI player that attempted a free throw left at least one point at the line on Friday. 

Hall finished with nine points and eight rebounds and freshman Jack Hansen continued to provide a lift off the bench with seven points and a pair of assists in 15 minutes. Justice became the first IUPUI player to score 20-or-more in four straight games since Alex Young did so in January 2012. It was Justice's ninth 20+ scoring game of the season. 

IUPUI will be back in action on Friday, Dec. 28 when the Jaguars open Horizon League play on the road at Northern Kentucky at 7:00 p.m. on ESPN+. In addition, that game can be heard on IUPUIJags.com as Morgan Adcock (pxp) is on the call.