CHICAGO - Despite outshooting and outrebounding UIC on Monday night (Feb. 14), the IUPUI basketball team dropped a nailbiter on the road to the Flames, 57-54 inside Credit Union 1 Arena. The Jaguars led the majority of the game, but were unable to seal the outcome as UIC's Jamie Ahale broke a 51-51 tie with a corner three with 1:46 to play to give the Flames the lead for good. 

Two turnovers in the final minute ultimately doomed the Jaguars, the second of which coming after the officials reversed a call, giving UIC possession with 13.4 seconds left. Trailing by three, IUPUI was forced to foul and UIC's Jalen Warren split the free throws to make it a two possession game. Nathan McClure was fouled at the other end with three seconds left and made the first foul shot, but IUPUI was unable to rebound his intentional miss of the second shot and time quickly expired. 

B.J. Maxwell led IUPUI with 14 points and grabbed seven boards while sophomore Bakari LaStrap had 12 points. Freshman Chuks Isitua continued his strong play with eight points, 10 rebounds and two steals. Jace Carter and Damaria Franklin led three UIC (10-14, 6-9 HL) players in double-digits with 12 apiece and Warren added 11 points and five assists. 

On the heels of an earlier 10-0 run, IUPUI (2-22, 0-13 HL) led by as many as 10 in the opening half when DePersia splashed a pair of free throws at the 6:18 mark to make it 21-11. The lead was still 10 at the 1:31 mark before halftime when DePersia drilled a step back three, but UIC tallied the final four points of the half to make it 28-22 at the break. The hosts proceeded to score the first six points of the second half on treys from Ahale and Filip Skobalj to tie the score as the game featured nine ties and nine lead changes. 

IUPUI rebuilt a six-point lead with under 12 minutes to go when Maxwell got free in transition before UIC used an 8-0 run to retake the lead with 7:30 remaining. 

IUPUI's final lead of the night came with 2:44 left when Isitua stuck back a LaStrap miss to make it 50-49. Carter responded with a pair of free throws before Maxwell split a pair to tie the score ahead of Ahale's go-ahead trey. 

IUPUI outrebounded (37-33) UIC and shot 36.5 percent from the floor while limiting UIC to just 35.3 percent. The Jags made a concerted effort to stay within the arc, hitting just 3-of-10 treys while UIC aired out a 7-of-26 (26.9 percent) effort at the other end. IUPUI outscored UIC 30-15 in the paint, but didn't make a three in the second half. 

McClure finished with seven points and seven boards and DePersia had seven points and a team-high four assists. Freshman Boston Stanton III added six points and three rebounds off the IUPUI bench. 

The Jaguars will continue the five-game stretch of road games on Thursday (Feb. 17) when they travel to Moon Township, Pa., for the first time in school history to face Robert Morris. That game is slated to tip-off at 7:00 p.m. and be broadcast on ESPN+.