MACOMB, Ill. - The Western Illinois Fighting Leatherneck men's basketball team dropped its second straight game Saturday (Jan. 14) to the Thunderbirds of Southern Utah, 65-55, inside of Western Hall.

Southern Utah earned its second straight victory, both on the road, and improved to 9-9 overall and 4-4 in The Summit League. Western falls to 9-7 overall and 4-4 in league play.

"Give them credit," said Western Illinois men's basketball coach Jim Molinari. "We couldn't stop them and every time we got within two, they scored. I'm not going to give up on our guys. It's very unfortunate, we fought our butt off out there on Thursday. I think we had a little bit of a hangover. I was worried about our energy the whole time. They just took it to us."

Three Leathernecks finished in double figures, led by senior guard Ceola Clark III who finished with 16 points. Clark also tallied two assists, two rebounds, and one steal. His one steal marked the 167th of his career, moving him into a tie with Bill Heisler the top spot on the career steals list at Western.  

Junior forward Terell Parks recorded his fifth double-double of the season, scoring 13 points and grabbing a game-high 11 rebounds, five of which were on the offensive end. The only other Leatherneck to finish in double figures was freshman forward Obi Emegano who recorded 13 points, had six rebounds and three steals.

As a team, Western shot 35.8%, their lowest percentage of the year, and only the third time they shot under 40% in a game this season. The Thunderbirds also outrebounded Western, 30-26, and had 15 assists to Western's six.

The Leathernecks finished with nine turnovers, the fifth time this season they had committed 10 or less in a game, while the Thunderbirds committed 15.

Clark opened the games scoring with a triple early on, but the Thunderbirds answered with a 13-0 run giving them a 13-3 lead after 10 minutes of play.

Junior forward Don McAvoy III entered the contest and knocked down his first shot of the night, a three-pointer that ended Southern Utah's run and spark a small 5-0 run for Western making it 13-8 with nine minutes to play in the first.

SUU would continue its solid shooting performance through the remainder of the first, while the Leathernecks would continue to struggle from the floor, finishing the half with a 29.2 shooting percentage, while the Thunderbirds finished the first having shot 50%.  

Southern Utah would take a 26-19 lead into halftime.

Through the first six minutes of the second-half, Western crawled to back within one point, down 36-35. Emegano scored 11 of WIU's 16 points to lead Western during that stretch.

The two teams then began to battle back-and-forth until the midway point of the second with Southern Utah holding onto a 44-40 lead with 10:27 left in regulation.

What has recently seemed to be an every game occurrence, Parks cleaned up missed Leatherneck shot with a thunderous two-handed slam, sparking the Leatherneck faithful and getting Western back within two, 46-44.

That would be as close as the Leathernecks would get after that, with Southern Utah gradually pulling away to a lead as large as 13, then costing to a 65-55 victory.

The Leathernecks (9-7, 4-4) will look to get back on track with a three-game road swing that starts next week at UMKC (7-13, 1-7) Thursday, Jan. 19th, with tipoff scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

#wiuathletics