KALAMAZOO, Mich. (AP)—Gary Patterson scored a game-high 16 points in his season debut, leading IUPUI to a 76-68 victory over Western Michigan on Saturday.
Patterson broke his hand in practice in late October, and didn’t return until practice Thursday. He hit 6-of-11 shots and had a career-high eight assists as IUPUI (4-2) won on a Mid-American Conference team’s home court for the first time in school history.
David Kool, Shawntes Gary and Martelle McLemore each scored 15 points for Western Michigan (2-5), which lost its second consecutive home game for the first time since 2001.
Leroy Nobles added 15 points for IUPUI, and Jon Avery had 14 points and a game-high 9 rebounds.
IUPUI made 72.7 percent of its shots in the second half, making 16-of-22, including 5-of-6 by Patterson. Western Michigan cut a 19-point deficit to four with 40 seconds left, but four free throws by John Ashworth down the stretch preserved IUPUI’s win.
