MACOMB, Ill. - A strong second half by IUPUI was too much for Western Illinois, as it fell in the Summit League opener 64-47.

The Leathernecks (3-6, 0-1 Summit) grabbed the lead on their first possession off a David DuBois layup. However, the Jaguars (6-2, 1-0 Summit) answered back as George Hill drained a three-pointer for their first and final lead of the game at 3-2. IUPUI utilized a 15-6 run to build up a 10-point lead with 8:33 left in the half. After a Western time out, Josh Rivers nailed a three-pointer to cut the lead to 18-11. Twice over the final eight minutes of the half, the Leathernecks cut the lead to five points, but could not get any closer.

Western struggled from the floor in the first half by going just 8-of-26 (31%), while IUPUI connected on 12-of-29 (41%) shots. The Leathernecks made up for their shooting from the field by hitting 7-of-8 (88%) from the line.

The Jaguars came out of the locker room strong, using a 14-3 run over the first 8:38 of the half to build their lead to 18 points at 47-29. A pair of free throws by James Washington silenced the run, but could not provide enough of a spark for Western. Washington also provided the only three-pointer of the second half for the Leathernecks, as he connected with 3:53 left to play. Unfortunately, IUPUI had already built its lead to 20 points, where it remained until Washington sank another pair of free throws with 1:25 left to play.

The shooting woes continued in the second half as the Leathernecks made 6-of-24 (28%) from the floor. Overall, Western hit 4-of-21 (19%) shots from beyond the arc for the game.

IUPUI had four players in double figures, led by 16 points from Billy Pettiford. Hill contributed 10 rebounds for the Jaguars, in addition to his 15 points. The Leathernecks were led by Jerryck Owens-Murrey with a season-high 14 and Washington with 13.

Western is off until December 18, when it travels to California to take on No. 7 UCLA.

Postgame quotes from Coach Thomas:

On what positives can be taken from tonight:
"You measure yourself in certain categories and look at what it takes to win a game, especially against the top competition in your league. You look at rebounding margin; you look at turnovers; you look at team defense, hustle plays and shots. What I saw tonight was that we didn't turn the ball over. We hustled and we did a decent job on the boards. Not a great job, but a decent job."

On the defense:
"We played pretty solid defense in the first half, but we eventually let our shooting effect the rest of our play. When we missed a few shots, we let our heads get down instead of getting a stop, getting the ball back and hitting a shot. We need to quit worrying about what just happened on one end and go manufacture something on the other end."