INDIANAPOLIS - Indiana State got the chance to play on the Conseco Fieldhouse hardwood, but it was IUPUI that took advantage of the opportunity as the Sycamores fell to the Jaguars 62-41 in front of 3,327 fans on the home court of the NBA's Indiana Pacers.
ISU falls to 2-9 on the season while IUPUI improved to 7-4.
The Sycamores raced out of the gate to a quick 10-5 lead behind solid defensive play from Harry Marshall and Rashad Reed. Marshall capped off a 5-0 run with a driving lay-up off a steal by Reed just four minutes into the contest.
IUPUI railed to close the game within a point, 13-12, on a dunk by Robert Gleen, but Jordan Printy was on fire in the opening stanza and he hit his first 3-pointer to stretch the lead out to 16-12.
The Sycamore offense dried up over the next five minutes as IUPUI went on a 13-2 run which was capped by a triple from Alex Young as the Jaguars took a 25-18 lead. Printy answered with a 3-pointer of his own to make it 25-21, but a conventional 3-point play by Billy Pettiford made it 28-21.
After IUPUI's John Ashworth stretched the Jaguar advantage up to a first-half high of eight points, 31-23 on a triple with 2:26 on the clock, Printy finished off his first half scoring with his fourth 3-pointer of the half to make it 31-26. Robert Glenn closed out the scoring with 1:46 left before the break with a jumper that made it 33-26.
Printy was on fire in the first half, hitting 4-of-5 shots from 3-point range to lead the Sycamores with 12 points before the intermission.
The Sycamores trailed by 19 points in the second half at 54-35 with 7:46 left in the game. ISU had back-to-back 3-pointers on the next two possessions to cut the IUPUI advantage down to 54-41, but that would be as close as ISU would get the rest of the way.
The game ended with IUPUI ahead by its largest lead of the game, 62-41.
Printy added three more points in the second half to score a career-high 15 points. Rashad Reed added a trio of 3-pointers to score 11 points.
“Printy made some shots and (IUPUI's) match-up zone defense created some shot opportunities for him,” head coach Kevin McKenna said.
IUPUI won the battle of the boards 38-24 as the Jags converted 11 second chance points.
“Rebounding again was our Achilles'' heel,” McKenna said. “We just could not get a two-handed rebound. We just struggled to get our noses in there and get a two-handed rebound. It seems like we hit a couple of shots and had some energy, but we have to find some guys that are committed to playing that way all of the time.”
Indiana State returns to action on Saturday, December 28 when they travel to Northern Iowa for the Missouri Valley Conference opener for both teams. Tip-off from the McLeod Center is set for 2:05 p.m. (EDT).
