RICHMOND, Ind. – Allante Harper caught fire in the second half, scoring 20 of his 21 points to help lift the IU Kokomo men's basketball team past IU East on Thursday night. 

The Cougars overcame a halftime deficit to defeat the Red Wolves, 89-83 to move to 17-3 on the season and 7-1 in River States Conference play. 
 
Trequan Spivey scored a game-high 24 points while Darian Porch added 15 to go with seven rebounds. Desean Hampton was the fourth IUK player in double figures with 12 points and seven rebounds. 
 
The Red Wolves got on the board first with a triple but buckets from Hampton and Hunter White gave the Cougars the early 4-3 lead. After a steal by Spivey and easy bucket from White to make it 6-5, the Cougars would go on a 7-0 run to extend their lead to 13-5 just five minutes into the game. 
 
With 7:29 to play in the opening half, IU East evened the game at 23. The teams would trade baskets resulting in a 36-36 game with just over a minute left to go in the first half. A 6-0 run by the Red Wolves sent the Cougars into the locker room facing a six-point deficit. 
 
Spivey scored 11 of his game-high 24 in the opening half. 
 
For the first 7:30 of the second half, the Red Wolves would maintain their lead. On three consecutive tris down the floor, the Cougars would connect from beyond the arc, two coming from Harper and one from Hunter Jackson to take their first lead since the 1:46 mark in the first half. 
 
Harper continued to have the hot hand for the Cougars as the senior scored 10 points in just over two minutes on three triples, one being a four-point play. Harpers hot shooting put IU Kokomo in front by nine with less than six minutes to go in the game. 
 
With 2:52 to go, Spivey converted a jumper to put the Cougars ahead by 10 but the game was far from over. A 5-2 from by IU East made it a one possession game with 52 seconds to play. Hampton scored four points in the final 30 seconds to put the game away and give the Cougars their fifth straight win. 
 
After turning the ball over nine times in the first half, the Cougars committed just four turnovers in the final 20 minutes. IUK Shot 58 percent from the field and 55 percent from long distance in the win. 
 
IU Kokomo will have a week off before traveling to Pittsburgh to take on Point Park next Thursday. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m.
 
For the latest news, updates, and information on the IU Kokomo Cougars, fans can visit IUKCougars.com. Fans can also stay up to date on the latest Cougar news by following @IUKAthletics on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.