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INDIANAPOLIS - Junior Marcus Burk pumped in 31 points and backcourt mate Jaylen Minnett added 18 as the IUPUI basketball team held off a feisty Tiffin squad in exhibition play on Wednesday night (Oct. 23), 81-77. Burk and Minnett combined to hit eight treys and head coach Byron Rimm II's team made just enough plays down the stretch to escape victorious. 

Delaino Walker led five Tiffin players in double-digits with 15 points and Joshua Williams added 14 in the loss. 

"I like that we fought. We made a lot of mistakes during the game, but it was mistakes that was with a lot of jitters. Everyone had jitters. The coaches had jitters, I had jitters, the players had jitters, but we overcame it. We worked hard and did some of the little stuff, but we didn't do it as much as we should have. That's why it's an exhibition and that's why we have scrimmages coming up next," Rimm II said.

The jitters were evidenced by 27 turnovers, which led to 32 Tiffin points off turnovers. Despite the miscues, IUPUI was able to fend off the Dragons and avoid the defeat. 

Trailing 48-45 early in the second half, Burk sparked a 10-0 IUPUI run by drilling back-to-back threes. After the media timeout, Burk setup Elyjah Goss for a one-handed dunk and then collected a steal at the other end, which ultimately led to two free throws. Tiffin refused to go away, even after the Jags built an 11-point lead just under seven minutes to play. 

A Williams triple with 2:15 to play made it a 79-74 score and he later cut the Jags lead back to 79-77 with a contested 25-footer with 13 seconds remaining. Burk pushed the lead back to three by splitting a pair of free throws and the Jags got a decisive final stop when Williams missed a harassed layup at the other end. Freshman Mike DePersia secured the rebound and hit a free throw to ice the victory. 

The Jaguars shot an efficient 49 percent overall and 43 percent from three-point range, but had nine fewer field goal attempts than Tiffin due to turnovers and offensive rebounding. 

"Offensively, it wasn't a bad tempo. Defensively, it was a slow tempo," Rimm II said. "We got back very slow on defense. We didn't do all the things we've worked on - sprint back and point on defense and talk and get set.

"Offensively, the speed was there. Defensively, the speed wasn't there."

Burk, who sat out last year after transferring in from Campbell, was brilliant in his debut, adding seven rebounds, six steals and four assists to his 31-point total. He connected on 9-of-18 from the floor and 4-of-6 from three, while playing 34 minutes. Minnett drilled 4-of-9 from three and delivered four assists as part of his 18 point evening.

"Burk is going to be one of the top shooters in the country, percentage-wise, like he already has been," Rimm II said. "Overall, we need to limit our turnovers and eliminate the dumb plays, but it's a lot of antsiness."

Goss just missed a double-double with eight points, 11 rebounds and four blocked shots, while Jamil Jackson Jr. came off the bench to tally nine points in 17 minutes. Grant Weatherford added six points, six rebounds and three assists and Isaiah Williams also finished with six points. 

IUPUI will host its annual Red-White Scrimmage on Monday, Oct. 28 at 6:30 p.m. inside The Jungle as both the men's and women's teams will be introduced that evening. The Jaguars will officially open the 2019-2020 season on Wednesday, Nov. 6 when they take on Butler at 6:30 p.m. in a game that will be broadcast on FS2.