ROCHESTER, Mich. - A battle tested, five-man IUPUI basketball squad left it all on the floor on Tuesday night (Mar. 1) in the opening round of the KEEPS Horizon League Basketball Championships, but ultimately fell short to No. 5 Oakland, 70-58. The Jaguars outrebounded and outshot the highly favored Golden Grizzlies, but were denied an upset due to too many turnovers against a confounding OU zone defense. 

Graduate transfer B.J. Maxwell tallied a team-high 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting in his final collegiate game and freshman Chuks Isitua finished with a double-double of 11 points and 14 rebounds. Nathan McClure tossed in 12 points and eight boards and freshman Boston Stanton III hit for a season-high 13 points, including 3-of-3 from three. Mike DePersia rounded out the IUPUI quintet with seven points and a season-high nine assists. 

Horizon League Co-Player of the Year Jamal Cain had 17 points and six boards and Jalen Moore closed with 16 points, nine assists and seven rebounds. 

"I'm really proud of my team," head coach Matt Crenshaw said. "We've faced adversity all season long and tonight was no different. There's no quit in this group - they just keep fighting and fighting. Playing with five (guys) is unheard of and those guys went out and fought a really, really good team tonight. 

"I'm not sure I can be more proud of a group of guys. We knew Oakland was going to throw everything at us and I thought we did a good job of matching their energy and matching their effort all night long."

IUPUI (3-26) fell behind 13-2 and scored just one bucket in nearly nine minutes before McClure stuck a three to kickstart the offense. The Jags clawed nearly all the way back late in the half when Maxwell stroked a three before Cain responded with a deuce to make it 26-21 at the break. 

The Jaguars refused to allow Oakland (20-11) to run away, even after yielding an 8-0 run that saw them fall behind 41-30 with 13:19 left. However, IUPUI counterpunched with a 7-0 run of its own on a McClure layup, Isitua layup and Stanton trey off a DePersia assist. The Jags had a chance to nudge closer, but McClure missed from in close and Moore responded with an old fashioned three-point play at the other end. The turn of events sparked an 8-0 Golden Grizzly run and the hosts kept the lead in double-digits over the final nine minutes. 

IUPUI won the glass by a 30-28 margin and shot 49 percent from the floor and 9-of-15 (60 percent) from three-point range. The Jags also held Oakland to just 29 percent shooting from three, but committed 20 turnovers, leading to 15 Oakland points. OU collected 14 steals and outscored IUPUI 16-2 in fast break points. 

Crenshaw was adamant coming in that his team would largely drain the shot clock to conserve energy and give his squad a chance to win. Equally impressive was getting his squad to the final horn intact as McClure and Stanton finished with four fouls apiece and Isitua and Maxwell had three each. 

The Jaguars' attention immediately turns to the 2022-2023 season as IUPUI has signed four newcomers for next year and will continue to fill out the roster in the offseason.