IUPUI 69, UMKC 65

3/8/2008 11:25 PM

TULSA, Okla. (AP) -Summit League player of the year George Hill scored the final four points of the game on free throws Saturday as IUPUI avoided UMKC's upset bid, winning 69-65 in a Summit League tournament quarterfinal.

Hill scored 16 points, five under his season average, while senior guard Austin Montgomery led the Jaguarswith 17 points.

Second-seeded IUPUI (25-6) advanced to Monday's semifinal, in which the Jaguars will play the winner of Sunday's game between Oakland (Mich.) and Western Illinois.

Senior guard Tim Blackwell led Missouri-Kansas City (11-21) with 19 points and Dane Brumagin added 16 for the Kangaroos.

The Kangaroos flirted with an upset all night. Trailing 36-31 at the half, UMKC rallied to within three twice and tied the game at 62-62 with 2:30 left on a layup by Brumagin.

The teams then traded 3-pointers before Hill sealed the win with his four free throws, the last two coming with 2.8 seconds left.

IUPUI outscored UMKC from the free throw line 21-8. IUPUI hit 84 percent (21-25) of its free throws compared to UMKC's 47.1 percent (8-17).

The Jaguars led most of the first half, but a 12-0 run by UMKC put the Kangaroos ahead 24-18 with just over 6 minutes to play. IUPUI then outscored UMKC 18-7 the rest of the half and led 36-31 at the break.

UMKC limited Hill to four first-half points.