INDIANAPOLIS - The IU Indianapolis men's basketball team's upset bid of Horizon League leading Cleveland State fell just short inside a raucous Jungle on Sunday (Jan. 19) as the visiting Vikings outlasted the Jaguars, 73-62. Paul Zilinskas led the Jaguars with 13 points and Sean Craig contributed 12 in the loss. Tevin Smith paced Cleveland State with 16 points in just 20 minutes due to foul trouble and both Dylan Arnett and KJ Debrick added 13 apiece. 

The Jaguars (6-14, 2-7 HL) led 33-31 at halftime and built a seven-point lead early in the second half, but couldn't maintain it against the league's hottest team. CSU (14-6, 8-1 HL) won an eighth straight Horizon League contest and tenth straight game overall, while defeating the Jaguars for a 13th consecutive meeting. 

"We didn't do a good job of handling their pressure down the stretch. We had too many live ball turnovers, which ultimately led to our lead slipping away," head coach Paul Corsaro said. "I thought we did a good job of coming out strong - started the game great, finished the first half great, started the second half great and kind of had that little lull in the middle of the second half. 

"We're right there in every game and we haven't been putting a full 40 (minutes) together. When we do, I think we've got a special group."

The Jaguars erased a six-point deficit in the final minutes of the first half to take a two-point lead into intermission, capped by a Zilinskas three as the shot clock expired with 56.5 seconds left. The lead grew to seven as Alec Millender made a corner three on the opening possession of the second half and Zilinskas followed with a tough left-handed finish on the next offensive trip.

However, the game turned as Cleveland State scored 13 straight points, holding the Jags scoreless for more than six minutes. Trailing 47-39, Zilinskas missed a short jumper in front of the Jaguars bench on a play in which Corsaro clearly thought his top scorer was undercut. The animated IU Indy leader voiced his displeasure and was quickly hit with a pair of technical fouls, leading to an automatic ejection. The Vikings cashed in on all four technical free throws and an additional freebie on the ensuing possession to push the lead to 52-39 with 11:50 to play, extending the run to 18 straight points. 

IU Indy whittled the lead down to five with 5:50 to play when Craig sank an open three, but got no closer. After CSU Debrick retaliated with a 16-foot jumper, Millender scored two at the free throw line with 5:10 left to get the Jags within five again. Smith repeatedly answered the Jaguars, tallying eight points on a collection of drives in the closing minutes to secure the win. 

CSU shot 54 percent from the floor in the second half to finish at 47.3 percent for the game. The Jaguars made just 6-of-22 (27.3 percent) second half attempts and finished the game at 37.8 percent. IU Indy, which came in ranked among the nation's top-50 in free throw percentage, shot an off kilter 63.3 percent on Sunday, missing 11-of-30 attempts. 

The Vikings did the bulk of their offensive work on the inside, outscoring the Jags 40-12 in the paint, while the Jaguars connected on 9-of-25 (36 percent) from three-point range. 

Millender closed with nine points, five rebounds and four assists and DeSean Goode, Jarvis Walker and Keenan Garner all contributed seven points apiece. The freshmen fueled the IU Indy attack in the game's early going as Garner, Goode and Ron Rutland III all had early treys. Garner also finished with three assists and two steals. 

The Jaguars will return to action on Wednesday (Jan. 22) when they travel to Green Bay to face the Phoenix at 6:00 p.m. CT (7 Eastern) on ESPN+.