“We just went on the road and won two games (including at Cleveland State), but you look around the locker room, and it’s like we lost,” coach Scott Nagy said on his post-game radio show.
“It’s hard when you’re playing a team that hasn’t been successful. Everyone ends up doing their own agenda and thinking, ‘I can do anything I want. We’ll win anyway.’ And I get after them, and they get their feelings hurt.
“Their heads were down (afterward), and I said, ‘Hey, we just won on the road. It was tough. We can’t expect that it’s not going to be.’’
The Jaguars cut a 59-41 deficit with 14:24 to go to 61-57 on two free throws by Bryce Monroe with 8:48 left.
Neither team scored again until Brandon Noel made a layup off a Logan Woods assist at 6:38.
But the Jaguars cut the margin again to 68-65 on a Kidtrell Blocker floater with 4:15 to go.
But A.J. Braun scored inside, and Trey Calvin added two free throws for a 72-65 lead with 2:54 left to lift the Raiders out of danger.
They’ve won six of their last eight games to improve to 12-10 overall and 7-4 in the league.
They stayed in the thick of the conference race since every team has at least three losses.
“We didn’t play great in the second half. We got up 18 and just rolled over for a while,” Nagy said.
“We still have a lot of work to do. But it’s hard what we did. … I’m proud they figured out a way to win the game when it got tough.”
Calvin had 27 points and five assists, Noel 20 points and 11 rebounds, Tanner Holden 12 points and eight rebounds and Braun 10 points and nine boards.
Alex Huibregtse, coming off a career-high 32 points at Cleveland State, only took five shots and was held to nine points, but he had a career-high nine assists.
Wright State won the first meeting, 103-74, at the Nutter Center.
Leading the nation in field-goal shooting at 53.7%, the Raiders hit only 49.1%, but they went 8 of 16 on 3′s.
Jlynn Counter scored 19 points and Blocker 18 for IUPUI, which has lost eight of its last nine games to fall to 6-17 overall and 2-10 in the HL.
THURSDAY’S GAME
Youngstown State at Wright State, 9 p.m., ESPNU, 101.5, 1410
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