SAN ANTONIO - Texas-native B.J. Maxwell scored a team-high 14 points and senior Bobby Harvey tallied 13 but it wasn't enough as IUPUI fell to Denver, 63-47, in its opening game of the UTSA Tournament on Monday (Nov. 15). The IUPUI (0-3) offense struggled to find a rhythm as the Jaguars shot just 31 percent overall and turned the ball over 21 times against its former Summit League colleague. 

KJ Hunt led Denver with a game-high 22 points on 9-of-13 shooting and Michael Henn chimed in with 21 points off the Pioneers' bench. The Pioneers rode a hot first half and staved off an IUPUI rally in the second half to earn the win. 

Denver used an early 9-0 burst to build a 13-4 lead with Henn accounting for the final seven points of the run. Harvey came off the Jaguars' bench and immediately connected on back-to-back threes to pull IUPUI back within three. However, IUPUI made just four buckets over the final 12 minutes of the first half and the Pioneers closed with a 15-2 run to build a 37-19 halftime advantage. 

Denver shot 58 percent from the floor in the opening half and hit 6-of-9 from three while IUPUI's turnovers (11) outnumbered its made field goals (7) in the opening half. The Pioneers converted IUPUI's 11 turnovers into 12 points in the opening half. 

"Turnovers were the difference in the game. We were careless with the basketball and committed too many unforced errors," head coach Matt Crenshaw said. "(Denver) was more aggressive and we relied too much on jump shots. 

"(Denver) was able to do a good job of getting to the (foul) line and we settled for too many jumpers and didn't get to the line nearly enough."

However, IUPUI's defense tightened the screws in the second half but couldn't muster enough offense to complete a comeback. Denver extended its lead to 40-21 on a Payton Moore dunk with 16:51 to play before IUPUI began whittling away. 

A 9-2 run capped by a Mike DePersia trey got IUPUI back within 12 with 13:02 left. Later, IUPUI scored six straight on back-to-back Harvey and Maxwell threes to cut the Pioneers' lead back to seven. In a stretch of three possessions, Harvey, Azariah Seay and Maxwell all missed treys that would have made it a two-possession game. Denver scored the game's next four points and IUPUI was unable to get any closer than seven down the stretch. 

Denver was limited to just 32 percent shooting in the second half, but weathered the storm as IUPUI shot just 30 percent. The Jaguars' shooting woes occurred primarily in close as IUPUI made just 7-of-25 (28 percent) from inside the arc. The Jags drained a season-high nine threes with Harvey and Maxwell making three apiece. 

Nathan McClure closed with seven points and five boards in a return trip to his home state and Seay tallied five points off the bench. Jonah Carrasco grabbed a career-high six boards, matching Harvey for the team-high. 

IUPUI will continue the three-game event on Tuesday (Nov. 16) when the Jaguars take on Texas A&M Corpus Christi at 6:00 p.m. inside UTSA's Convocation Center for the second of three games.