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FORT WAYNE, Ind. - Despite holding IPFW's leading scorer Ben Botts to just six points, Western Illinois allowed the Mastodons to shoot 47 percent (10-of-21) from three-point range in a 68-55 loss Thursday night at the Memorial Coliseum. 

Western Illinois (6-8) falls to 1-3 in conference play, while IPFW (10-4) improves to 5-0 in the Summit League.

"We really struggled to stop IPFW's three-point attack and that was the key to the game," said head coach Jim Molinari. "We worked very hard all week on limiting good looks from beyond the arc, but we did not have good awareness on defense tonight."

"Give IPFW credit for their performance tonight," Molinari added. "They are 5-0 in conference play now, have a lot of solid veterans and are very well coached."

Senior Matt Lander led the Leathernecks with 16 points on 6-of-14 shooting and continued his streak of scoring in double figures every game this season. Sophomore Jack Houpt hit 3-of-4 three pointers to finish with nine points and junior guard Tommie Tyler added 11 points.

Junior forward Kaimarr Price had a team-high eight rebounds and senior guard Brandon Smith collected three of the Leathernecks' seven steals. Sophomore Jelani Johnson had six points, three rebounds and a team-high three assists in 40 minutes and is the third Western Illinois player to play all 40 minutes this season.

Western hit 10-of-21 shots in the 2nd half, but allowed IPFW to shoot 52.4 percent from the field. The Mastodons also hit all 12 free throw attempts in the 2nd half. Overall, IPFW received 20 points from its bench compared to Western's seven, and collected 20 assists on 23 field goals.

Abdou Niang's layup with 13:10 left in the first half cut the Mastodon lead to 8-6, but IPFW hit four consecutive three pointers and took a 24-14 lead following Trey McCorkle's layup with 4:03 remaining. Five straight points from Lander cut the Mastodon advantage to five with 2:40 left, but IPFW went into the locker room with a 30-23 lead at half. IPFW hit 6-of-12 three pointers in the opening stanza, including three from senior guard Zach Plackemeier.

The Leathernecks came out strong in the second half as Houpt drained two consecutive three pointers and a layup from Tyler with 15:13 remaining trimmed the IPFW lead to 37-35. IPFW responded with an 16-8 run capped by Jason Smeathers three-pointer with 8:57 left to make it 53-43. The Leathernecks never got closer than 10 points the rest of the way.

Western Illinois is back in action Saturday (Jan. 8) night as the Fighting Leathernecks travel to Rochester, Mich. to take on the Oakland Golden Grizzlies. Tip-off at the O'rena is set for 5 p.m. CT. Oakland beat IUPUI 85-71 at home Thursday night for its 13th straight league win.