CLEVELAND - Freshman Armon Jarrard scored a career-high 22 points off the IUPUI bench and Jlynn Counter added 13 but the Jaguars' saw a second half comeback effort fall short at Cleveland State in a 78-72 defeat on Sunday (Jan. 29). IUPUI trailed by 20 with 14:29 to play, but whittled the Vikings' lead back to three with 3:01 left in the defeat. 

IUPUI (3-20, 0-12 HL) made a season-high 10 threes and held the Vikings without a trey in the second half in the furious comeback. Jarrard fueled the effort, sinking a career-high five triples on seven attempts. 

"We dug too big of a hole and you can't do that against good teams. We left some points on the free throw line and turned it over a little too much, but this team doesn't quit. We stayed in the fight," head coach Matt Crenshaw said. "We knew it would be tough without (Osten) and without some other guys, but we didn't fold. 

"I thought we were better defensively in the second half and that helped us get some easy opportunities. Now, we have to get back home, hopefully get some healthy bodies back and continue to fight."

IUPUI was seemingly left for dead after CSU shot better than 59 percent in the opening half and the Jaguars' top three scorers - Counter, Vincent Brady II and Chris Osten - had a combined two points as Osten was stuck back in Indy due to injury. The Vikings led 47-32 at the break and pushed the lead to 20 when Deshon Parker scored in transition with 14:29 to play. 

Down 68-56 with 5:08 to play, IUPUI outscored the Vikings 11-2 over the next two minutes to make it a one-possession game. Jonah Carrasco started the run with a tough bucket inside, followed by back-to-back Jarrard threes, the second of which prompted a CSU timeout. After a defensive stop, Boston Stanton III drilled a corner three to make it 70-67 with 3:01 left. CSU's Drew Lowder hit a tough baseline jumper to push the lead back to five and Stanton misfired on an open three with 2:09 remaining. 

The Vikings staved off the Jags down the stretch, ultimately moving into a four-way tie for first place in the Horizon League standings. 

Jarrard needed just eight field goal attempts for his first career 20-point game while all 13 of Counter's points came in the second half. Freshman DJ Jackson added 11 points and John Egbuta recorded eight points and six boards off the bench. Carrasco, who played 36 minutes in Osten's absence, had four points, eight rebounds and two blocked shots. Brady added seven points, seven rebounds and five assists. 

Lowder and Tae Williams led four CSU players in double-digits with 15 apiece. 

IUPUI will return home to host Milwaukee on Thursday (Feb. 2) at 11:00 a.m. inside Indiana Farmers Coliseum. More than 1,000 elementary school students from Indianapolis Public Schools are expected to be in attendance and the game will also be broadcast on ESPN+ as Greg Rakestraw (pxp) and IUPUI Hall of Famer Bob Lovell (analyst) will be on the call. Fans can purchase tickets by clicking here.