ASHWAUBENON, Wisc. – The IU Indianapolis men’s basketball team drilled 15 threes and shot 55 percent overall as the Jaguars gunned down Green Bay, 86-77, inside Resch Center on Wednesday night (Jan. 22). The Jags shot a scintillating 63 percent (15-of-24) from three-point range and led nearly wire-to-wire in the road victory.
The victory gave the Jaguars a regular season sweep of Green Bay, having already won the matchup in Indy.
Sean Craig led four Jaguars in double-digits with 24 points and nine rebounds while Paul Zilinskas deposited 21 points, including five threes. Jarvis Walker finished with 18 points and a career-high eight assists and freshman DeSean Goode just missed a double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds.
-“Really happy for our guys that we went out and took care of business and they were rewarded with a win. I thought we shared the ball incredibly well and did a great job of making the extra pass to find our shooters,” head coach Paul Corsaro said. “We were a little sloppy in the last few minutes, but all around, I was pleased with the effort and excited to come home with a win.”
Jeremiah Johnson paced five Green Bay (2-19, 0-10 HL) players in double-figures with 18 points on 5-of-12 shooting. Both Marcus Hall and Mac Wrecke closed with 12 apiece.
In what proved to be a precursor to the evening’s events, Zilinskas and Craig swished threes on the Jaguars’ opening two possessions to build a quick 6-0 lead as IU Indy made 10 triples in the first half. The Phoenix took a brief 8-7 lead on a Wrecke layup before Alec Millender followed with a corner trey to give the Jags the lead for good. Walker and Zilinskas made back-to-back threes to ignite an 8-0 run that pushed the lead out to double-digits and a late 10-0 run extended the advantage to 18 just before halftime.
Corsaro’s team pushed the lead beyond 20 for much of the second half, peaking at 78-56 with 3:47 to play on a Walker layup. The hosts outscored IU Indy by 13 points down the stretch to shrink the final margin to nine.
The Jaguars’ offense was brilliant, delivering 22 assists on 29 field goals while committing just seven turnovers. Zilinskas hit 5-of-8 from beyond the arc while Craig was 4-of-5 and finished one point shy of tying his career-high scoring total. Walker connected on 3-of-5 from deep and Goode hit both of his three-point attempts.
Keenan Garner came off the bench to provide five points and four rebounds and Ajay Holubar had quality minutes with three points, an assist and blocked shot in seven minutes of action.
The Jaguars will return to the Jungle to host Purdue Fort Wayne on Saturday (Jan. 25) at 2:00 p.m. on Metros Day and Winter Homecoming. The Jaguars will wear throwback uniforms to honor the 1985 IUPUI Metros squad that advanced to the NAIA National Tournament and alumni in attendance will be recognized at halftime. The first 200 fans in attendance will receive a commemorative Metros poster of this year’s team members.
