INDIANAPOLIS - The IUPUI basketball team fell short of an upset of Youngstown State in both teams regular season finale inside the Jungle on Saturday night (Feb. 25), 93-79. The win sealed an outright regular season title for Youngstown State while IUPUI closed the regular season at 5-26 overall and 2-18 in Horizon League play. 

Jlynn Counter finished with 20 points and four assists while freshman DJ Jackson came off the bench with 15 points. Malek Green paced YSU (23-8, 15-5 HL) with 21 points and eight boards as five different Penguins closed in double-digits. 

YSU shot nearly 68 percent in the second half and ended the game at 57.6 percent and 8-of-18 (44.4 percent) from three. IUPUI shot the ball well, finishing at 54.4 percent, but turned it over 13 times, leading to 22 YSU points. 

"The difference in the game was experience," head coach Matt Crenshaw said. "They're loaded with experience at every position and we're still learning. When things got tough at the start of the second half, I thought our lack of experience showed and they saw blood in the water and went for the kill. That's what veterans do.

"That's a really good team and Coach Calhoun has done it the right way, getting his kids and playing the way he wants them to play. I loved our energy and our fight and our willingness to fight all night long."

IUPUI held a scant 39-38 lead at the break after scoring the final five points of the half, capped by a tough Armon Jarrard three-point play. 

IUPUI led by as many as three early in the second half, but the offense went silent for just more than three minutes and YSU took advantage with a 15-0 burst. Brandon Rush scored 10 of his 18 during the run and Green capped it with a three. The Jaguars used its own 8-0 run to get back within eight with 8:47 left with all eight points coming from freshmen. 

Jackson started the run with a three-point play and Jarrard followed with five straight on a fast break layup and a three-point play of his own. However, YSU pushed the lead back to 11 on a Dwayne Cohill three-point play and never relinquished their double-digit lead the remainder of the evening. 

Adrian Nelson had 18 points for the Penguins and Cohill closed with 16 points and seven assists. John Lovelace contributed 10 points and four offensive boards off the YSU bench. 

Jonah Carrasco had a season-high nine points and five assists and hit all four of his field goal attempts in making his second start of the season. Vincent Brady II tallied nine and Jarrard scored eight off the bench. John Egbuta finished with seven points and five boards off the bench. 

IUPUI will enter the 2023 Barbasol #HLMBB Championship as the No. 11 seed and will face No. 6 Robert Morris on Tuesday night (Feb. 28) at 7:00 p.m. on ESPN+.