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INDIANAPOLIS - The IUPUI basketball team found itself mixed in another close affair on Friday night (Feb. 22), but finished strong and came away victorious as the Jags outlasted Milwaukee, 67-60. Sophomore Jaylen Minnett scored a game-high 22 points off the Jaguars' bench and junior Camron Justice chimed in with 15 as IUPUI snapped a four-game skid and gave the program it's most victories since the 2010-11 campaign. 

DeAndre Abram led Milwaukee (9-19, 4-11 HL) with 19 points and seven rebounds and Darius Roy pumped in 18 in the loss. 

IUPUI (15-13, 7-8 HL) came up with timely baskets and even more timely defensive stops late after the game was tied at 54 all with 5:48 to play. The game featured 15 lead changes, the final coming when Minnett combined a stop and a bucket by collecting a steal near midcourt and racing to the other end for an uncontested layup, which sparked a pivotal 6-0 run. Senior center Ahmed Ismail contributed the final four points of the run as part of his 13-point, 8-rebound effort. The 7-foot-1 veteran scored on a pair of free throws and then dropped in an easy layup off a Justice assist with 2:43 left to make it 60-54. 

MKE's Jake Wright banked in a long three with 1:45 left, but IUPUI countered when Ismail put back a Minnett miss with 1:16 left to retain the two possession lead. From there, IUPUI made enough free throws and took advantage of some Panther misses to escape victorious. 

"I'm really proud of my guys," head coach Jason Gardner said. "I thought defensively we were pretty good in the second half and that was the difference in the ballgame. We forced them into some tough shots and I thought we did a better job of limiting them to one shot with our work on the glass in the second half. 

"Jaylen really gave us a spark offensively tonight with his ability to make shots. He kind of got us going in the first half and carried it over to the second half. He's a confident kid and has the ability to make some really tough shots. I think you saw that tonight."

Milwaukee was doing the shot making in the game's early going as the Panthers made their first six three-point attempts en route to building a 30-24 lead. IUPUI clawed back to take a 37-36 lead at the break, despite the Panthers canning eight triples before intermission. IUPUI built a six-point lead early in the second half before Milwaukee fired back to build a 50-45 lead.

Minnett stroked a wing three with 9:56 to play to spark a personal 9-0 run that saw him score from beyond the arc, on a contested drive and then at the free throw line. He then dropped in a short baseline jumper to close the burst and give the Jags a four-point lead. Milwaukee scored the game's next four points before IUPUI ran away late. 

IUPUI shot 43 percent in the win while limiting the Panthers to just 31 percent after halftime and 39 percent for the game. Evan Hall finished with six points, six rebounds and three blocked shots while Elyjah Goss returned from a two-game absence with six points and six boards of his own off the bench. 

Wright closed with 12 points for the Panthers on four treys and Amir Allen had four points and a game-high 11 boards before fouling out. 

The win was icing on an already celebratory evening as IUPUI retired the No. 21 jersey of Hall of Famer Matt Crenshaw during halftime. Crenshaw was joined on the court by nearly 20 former teammates and players he coached while current NBAer George Hill addressed the crowd as part of the celebration. 

IUPUI will cap the regular season home slate on Sunday (Feb. 24) at 1:00 p.m. against Green Bay. The IUPUI Athletics Department will recognize the senior trio of Hall, Ismail and McCall immediately before the game, beginning at 12:45 p.m.. Sunday's game can be seen on ESPN+ as Greg Rakestraw (pxp) and Hall of Famer Bob Lovell (analyst) are on the call.