Ben Howlett has his first career Horizon League win as the men’s head basketball coach at IU Indy, and he won’t be the only one to remember it. The Jaguars (5-15 overall) needed execution down the stretch after comebacks in both halves plus overtime to down the Horizon League defending champions, 96-93.
Robert Morris (11-8 overall) has now lost three straight, and this one also broke a five-game winning streak RMU had over IU Indy, which dates back to February of 2023.
“Guys are hanging around, practicing the right way, and it’s good for them to get rewarded,” Howlett said, “because we’ve been close the last couple games and didn’t have anything to show for it. It’s a much-needed win.”
The Jaguars did a lot of their second half damage courtesy of three steals by as many players from the 9:50 to 7:32 mark, as the Colonials lost their second ten-point lead of the game, both times while struggling against IU Indy’s patented press. Robert Morris would lose the turnover battle in the game, 18-8.
On the other end of the floor, IU Indy kept finding Kyler D’Augustino and Jaxon Edwards, especially late, on curl cuts that the visitors seemed to have no answer for.
“It’s definitely in our offense,” D’Augustino explained. “We try to use curl screens a lot on teams that are not switching, and they were, like, not switching off me, so my guy was staying attached, so I knew if I could sit and hit Jackson’s guy, he’s going to be wide open on that curl and finish at the rim. Then they started switching, so I could catch it and then attack it, close out from there, so just mix it up like that.”
It’s starting to feel a bit routine for D’Augustino, but his stat sheet looked real nice: 28 points, six assists, and 7-9 from the free throw line. After the game Howlett admitted D’Augustino was the “number one” guy he hoped would come with him from West Liberty.
“He was the first guy that called me,” he said. “Recruited him really hard since his 11th grade year of high school. He and I are extremely close, and he’s having a heck of a year, and we’re going to continue to lean on him.”
Even after the second half comeback, IU Indy found themselves behind, 81-79, with 34 seconds left in regulation after former IU Indy player DeSean Goode put his new team ahead. The 6-8 sophomore leads the Horizon League in both rebounding and field goal percentage and scored 20 in this one while only putting up nine shots.
After the game, Howlett said that Goode is a great player and that he was at the top of the scouting board.
“He’s able to play on the perimeter. He’s shooting an extremely high percentage in league from three … It’s something ridiculous. He’s calm, cool and collected in the post … He’s a Fairmont, West Virginia kid that was under-recruited out of high school, and he’s out to prove people wrong. He’s doing a really good job of it,” Howlett said.
After the Goode lay-up that could have won it, IU Indy got a timeout with the ball just over half-court, and then they isolated who else but a 6-1 guard in the post on the right side of the floor after flex movement. The left-handed jump hook was true with 17 seconds left.
“I worked [on post moves] with Finn a lot after last season, just slowing down because his footwork is phenomenal. He’s very patient in there. So, just all the work in the offseason, all the work this season working on that, and just got it to go,” D’Augustino said.
The Colonials got one more shot up in regulation after Goode screened Jaxon Edwards on the left wing, when Edwards switched with 6-8 sophomore Aiden Miller, who started his fourth straight game for the Jaguars. RMU guard Albert Vargas proceeded to drive Miller to the lane with Goode and Edwards battling at the block, but Vargas’s spinning jumper missed, and fans at The Jungle were treated to extra basketball.
“Goode is a big that’s really effective for them,” Edwards said. “So I was really trying to make sure he didn’t get it down low when they screened.”
Edwards had 25 points and 11 rebounds in the highest-scoring game of his four collegiate seasons that have been spent at four different institutions — Murray State, Valparaiso, St. Bonaventure and now at IU Indy.
“Something just clicked for him on that Colorado trip,” Howlett said. “Since that trip he’s been practicing the right way, he’s been getting in here in his free time, and you know, I tell you, the stat that doesn’t show up in the box score that was pivotal for us was how many basketballs he kept alive on the tip. You know, he didn’t get the rebound, but he was able to extend the play, and we were able to get the rebound because he was in there mixing it up.”
Rebounding has been a problem for this year’s IU Indy group, as they are currently last in the league in rebounding margin. The Jaguars lost that battle again against the Colonials, but only by a 32-28 margin.
Miller would go on to hit his fourth three-pointer out of six attempts in the game on IU Indy’s first overtime possession, and the home team never trailed the rest of the way.
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