INDIANAPOLIS - The IU Indianapolis men's basketball team rallied from 13 points down in the second half to pick off visiting UT-Martin inside James T. Morris Arena on Saturday night (Nov. 7), 75-74.
Gus Etchison provided a game-high 24 points, including four threes, and
Kameron Tinsley finished with 16 points and hit a pair of threes inside the final two minutes to cap the comeback.
Junior
Jason Clarke Jr. subbed on for the final defensive possession and collected a steal in the closing seconds to seal the victory.
"(We) just kept playing hard and some guys stepped up and made some good defensive plays. I think this win will pay dividends in the future when you win these tight games against opponents, it means a lot later on," head coach
Ben Howlett said. "We're going to enjoy this win for 24 hours, we'll give these guys an off day, then we'll come back to work on Monday for Southern Indiana."
Clarke's steal was the Jaguars' eighth of the game as IU Indy forced 20 Skyhawk turnovers and converted them into 22 points.
"Just guard, do what I normally do in practice every day," Clarke Jr. said of Howlett's message to him on the last possession. "I guard all the time. He had faith in me to go get a stop."
Davi Remagen scored 19 points to lead UT-Martin (0-2) and Vladimir Khryapa closed with 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting.
UT-Martin led 66-53 with 7:24 to play before a quick IU Indy (2-0) 8-0 run cut the lead back to two possessions. Etchison sparked the run with a pull-up three and Tinsley was fouled on a three-point attempt on the next trip, leading to three made free throws. Moments later,
Peyton Heiss collected a steal near midcourt and raced the other way for a fast break layup to make it 66-61 with five minutes remaining.
The Jags finally went ahead when Tinsley splashed a three with 1:41 to play and after relinquishing the lead at the other end, Tinsley connected again off a scripted set, making it 73-71 with 1:02 left. Once again, the Jaguars yielded the lead when the Skyhawks sandwiched made free throws around an offensive rebound of a missed foul shot, forcing the Jags to play from behind. Etchison responded by earning a trip to the line with 16 seconds remaining and making both attempts. On the ensuing possession, Clarke picked Remagen's pocket and
Markus Pastorcic-Straun dove on the loose ball, leading to a jump ball with 2.0 seconds left. The Jags inbounded the ball long to
Precious Idiaru, who was able to dribble out the clock and send the Jags to the win.
IU Indy shot just 37 percent overall and 10-of-38 (26.3 percent) from three. UT-Martin shot an impressive 53 percent from the floor, but just 4-of-18 (22.2 percent) from three after making 17 treys in their season opener at Tulane. The Skyhawks outscored the Jaguars 46-20 in the paint and outrebounded IU Indy 43-25, but turned the ball over 20 times against the Jaguars' seven miscues.
Idiaru finished with nine points in his IU Indy debut while Heiss and
Manasseh Stackhouse scored eight points apiece. The Jags never led by more than five at any point, but were seemingly comfortable playing from behind on their home floor.
"We play these three minute games in practice where we put a certain score on the scoreboard and we played out 13 points to us. We can get that done in a minute to a minute and a half. That's nothing," Howlett said. "It's the way we practice. I have ultra faith in these guys to make plays and eventually shots are going to start to fall for us. (We) made a couple of coaching errors there late, but that's on me. Just a really gritty win and it's a tight win, you know, late, late in the game."
The first half was nip-and-tuck throughout as the Jaguars scored the final five points before intermission to take a 36-34 lead into intermission. Etchison closed the half with back-to-back makes, including a pull-up three from the top of the key as time expired to take the lead.
The Jaguars will continue its season opening three-game homestand on Wednesday night (Nov. 11) when they host Southern Indiana at 6:30 p.m. inside James T. Morris Arena.
