INDIANAPOLIS - The IU Indianapolis men's basketball team fell just short against the Northeast Conference preseason favorites on Thursday night (Nov. 6) as the Jaguars fell at home to LIU, 94-90. Freshman Maguire Mitchell scored a team-high 22 points, including six treys, and fifth-year senior Matt Compas came off the bench with 20 points on 10-of-17 shooting. 

Greg Gordon paced LIU (1-1) with 29 points and Mason Porter-Brown finished with 18 points. 

The game featured 10 ties and 15 lead changes, the final coming when LIU scored six straight points after Jaxon Edwards had given the Jags an 88-87 advantage by tipping in his own miss with 3:11 to play. LIU countered with three straight buckets, all in the paint, aided by a pair of IU Indy (0-2) turnovers, to build a 93-88 lead with under a minute to play. Edwards made it a one-possession game with an emphatic two-handed dunk and the Jags had a chance to tie the game after forcing an LIU turnover. However, Mitchell missed a contested three from the left wing and the Jaguars were forced to foul to extend the game. Gordon split the pair to finish the night's scoring.

"Frustrating," head coach Ben Howlett said. "We just made some plays at the end of the game that are uncharacteristic. We kind of lost our heads a little bit. We felt good in the second half when we got up eight and then we turned the ball over and we just had hard time stopping them driving to the rim. 

"They drove us to the rim and scored and when they didn't score, they got the offensive rebounds and put it up and in. We've got to clean some stuff up."

LIU shot 59 percent from the field with minimal degree of difficulty as the bulk of the attempts came inside the arc. The Sharks finished with 66 points in the paint while the Jaguars shot just 44 percent overall and 8-of-30 (26.7 percent) from three. 

LIU led by as many as 10 in the first half before the Jaguars found their footing and eventually took a 53-46 lead into intermission. The Jaguars forced 17 first half turnovers, making the visiting Sharks uncomfortable the full 94 feet from the opening tip. The Jags pushed the lead to eight in the early stages of the second half on a Compas layup and either stayed even or in front until Gordon split a pair of free throws with 7:39 to play. Neither team led by more than two possessions over the final 11-plus minutes of the contest. 

Edwards closed with 13 points, including a highlight reel three-point play in the second half and Woodward added 12 points, six assists and three rebounds. Kyler D'Augustino finished with 10 points, six rebounds and six assists. The Jaguars collected 16 steals and forced 23 LIU miscues, but only converted them into 24 points at the other end. 

"It's game two of 31 so we've just got to stay positive, regroup tomorrow and prepare for our next game and just come out with a lot of energy," Compas said. "They were physical. They got to the offensive glass too much. We've got to do a better job of just boxing out, flying around faster and being smarter with the ball."

The Jaguars will return to action on Saturday (Nov. 8) when they travel across town to face Butler at 5:00 p.m. inside Hinkle Fieldhouse at 5:00 p.m.