INDIANAPOLIS - The IU Indianapolis men's basketball team closed out its regular season with a 91-84 home win over Wright State on Saturday (Mar. 1) in a preview of an opening round Horizon League Tournament game, slated for Tuesday (Mar. 4). The team's lone two seniors - graduate transfers Paul Zilinskas and Jarvis Walker - combined to score 56 points in the Senior Day win. 

"We were determined to win for Jarvis and Paul, plain and simple. Those two have been tremendous players and tremendous leaders for our program, so we wanted to see to it that they went out with a win on Senior Day," head coach Paul Corsaro said. "We played well and we finished. We finished off the game and made plays down the stretch to get the win."

The Jaguars (10-21, 6-14 HL) used a 12-0 run to take a 70-63 lead on Keenan Garner's layup with 7:11 to play. Sean Craig hit the go-ahead three at 66-63 as part of the run to ignite the Corteva Coliseum crowd and force a Wright State (14-17, 8-12 HL) timeout. The timeout didn't quell the momentum as the Jaguars continued to score, staving off any Wright State response. 

The Raiders got within 82-80 with 2:35 to play after Brandon Noel and Alex Huibregtse hit back-to-back threes, but Walker earned a trip to the foul line and made both attempts. After Noel got free for a dunk, Zilinskas scored on a drive to make it a two possession game with 1:27 left. The Jaguars came up with a critical defensive stop when Huibregtse missed a pair of three-point attempts before Craig cleaned the glass. On the ensuing offensive trip, the Jaguars drained the shot clock before Walker connected on a contested three from the top of the key with 22 seconds to play. 

Zilinskas scored 31 points on 11-of-18 shooting, including hitting 4-of-8 from three and all five of his free throw attempts. Walker closed with 25 points, making 8-of-16 shots, and five assists. Craig joined them in double-digits with 17 points and seven rebounds and Garner had nine points and a game-high 13 rebounds. 

The Jaguars won the glass by a definitive 38-29 margin and converted 11 Wright State turnovers into 20 points at the other end. The already thin IU Indy bench got five points from Ron Rutland III and two steals and two rebounds from Caleb Hannah. 

Noel led WSU with 23 points and Huibregtse scored 19 points, including five threes. Michael Imariagbe turned in a double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds. The Wright State offense was incredibly efficient, delivering 25 assists on 34 field goals and finishing the game at 53.1 percent overall and 12-of-31 (38.7 percent) from three. 

However, the Jags finished at 49.3 percent and grabbed 17 offensive rebounds, leading to 23 second chance points. Eight of Garner's 13 rebounds came off the offensive glass and Craig grabbed three offensive boards. 

The same two teams will meet in the opening round of the #HLMBB Tournament on Tuesday night (Mar. 4) inside the Nutter Center at 8:00 p.m.