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INDIANAPOLIS - IUPUI junior T.J. Henderson matched his career-high with 19 points and senior Aaron Brennan tossed in 17 as the Jaguars fended off pesky Cleveland State, 78-73, inside Indiana Farmers Coliseum on Thursday night (Feb. 8). IUPUI surged out to a 20-point lead near the midpoint of the second half and held on down the stretch to snap a five-game skid. 

Freshman Jaylen Minnett also finished in double-figures with 10 points off the bench and Elyjah Goss contributed nine points and four boards. Stefan Kenic led Cleveland State (6-20, 3-10 HL) with 16 points and Tyree Appleby contributed 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting in the loss. 

"I liked a lot of what we did tonight, both offensively and defensively," head coach Jason Gardner said. "I thought we got after them defensively and did a good job of getting stops, especially in the first half. We still didn't play a full 40 minutes and we let them back into the game, but I thought we did a good job of regrouping down the stretch and making enough plays to get the win. That's what I'm most proud of is that we stuck with it, made plays and got the win."

Things looked to be a runaway when Goss hammered down back-to-back dunks as part of a 6-0 burst that put the Jags ahead 60-40 with 12:04 left. Cleveland State answered with five quick points after a timeout and continued chipping away from there. Things got dicey with 4:37 left when CSU's Kenny Carpenter got loose for a layup to cut the IUPUI lead to five, but Henderson answered by banking in a runner high off the window with 4:17 left. 

The Vikings were within four after Terrell Hales scored on a drive with 3:05 to play and had a chance to cut it even closer after a defensive stand. However, Kasheem Thomas misfired on a trey and Henderson tracked down the rebound before Gardner called timeout. After the timeout, the Jags immediately found Brennan in the post, who dropped in a soft right-handed hook to make it a 73-67 lead. 

IUPUI missed a bevy of free throws late, but was aided by a pair of intentional foul calls, which gave the Jaguars possession despite the misses. Evan Hall and Ron Patterson both missed a pair before Goss split a pair after drawing an intentional foul with 19 seconds left. Patterson then atoned for the earlier misses by splashing a pair moments later. Henderson delivered the final nail in the CSU coffin with a pair of made free throws with eight seconds left to cap the scoring. 

Henderson was a perfect 9-of-9 from the foul line and 5-of-7 from the floor, while also closing with five assists, four boards and three steals. Goss made all four of his field goal attempts, all coming via dunks, while Brennan was 7-of-9 from the floor. IUPUI finished at 59 percent and held CSU to 48 percent for the game. The Jags attempted a season-low nine treys, opting to bully their way inside to a 42-32 advantage on points in the paint and a 29-22 rebounding edge. 

"I thought we did a good job of making the extra pass and trying to get really good looks," Gardner said. "We attacked them off the bounce and got some good looks because of it. I thought T.J. did a good job of running the offense and getting everyone involved."

IUPUI fell behind 10-4 early before the Jaguars rode Henderson and Brennan to an efficient first half offensively. Henderson fueled a 9-0 run, assisting on Brennan and Minnett treys, sandwiched around a steal and three-point play of his own. The Jaguars maintained the lead for the remainder of the half, pushing out to a 12-point lead just before halftime. Cleveland State scored the final basket of the first half when Evan Clayborne flushed home a teammates' miss at the horn. IUPUI shot nearly 61 percent from the floor in the opening half and led 35-25 at the break. 

The win gave IUPUI a season split with the Vikings and improved the Jaguars' home mark to 7-2 on the year. 

IUPUI will continue the two-game homestand on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. when the Jaguars host Youngstown State inside Indiana Farmers Coliseum. The Pacers Power Pack will perform at halftime of that contest and tickets are available via TicketMaster or the Coliseum box office. Saturday's game will be sponsored by the IU School of Dentistry.