MACOMB, Ill. - The Western Illinois men's basketball squad (7-5, 2-2), who was up 28-27 at the halftime, outscored South Dakota 39-17 in the second half on its way to a 67-44 Summit League victory Tuesday night in Macomb.

"The second half looked like how Western Illinois basketball needs to look," said head coach Jim Molinari. "We took care of the ball and took good shots on the offense end."

The Leathernecks improve to 7-5 overall on the season and 2-2 in league action, while the Coyotes fall to 5-9 and 0-5 in Summit League games.

Freshman forward Obi Emegano led Western in scoring for the sixth time this season, notching 20 points, going 9-of-12 (75%) from the floor, while senior guard Ceola Clark III added 19 points, seven assists, only one turnover, and three steals. Junior forward Terell Parks finished with 10 points, six of which came from dunks, and nine rebounds.

"I think Ceola (Clark) had a special game again; he really got Terell (Parks) going," said coach Molinari. "Obi (Emegano) was consistant, and Tommie (Tyler) was a warrior as usual."

Parks' nine rebound performance marks the fourth of its kind this season, having missed a double-double by one board each time.

South Dakota was led by Charlie Westbrook who finished the game with 18 points, making 8 of his 12 shots from the floor.

The Leathernecks jumped out to an early 4-0 lead after winning the tip, but that wouldn't last long as the entire first-half would become a back-and-forth battle.

There were a total of four ties and six lead changes. Emegano started things off by connecting on his first four attempts from the field and tallied eight points in the first.  

Clark rattled off eight points in the final six minutes, and made a nifty pass to junior forward Jack Houpt under the basket giving Western the 28-27 lead heading into the break.

Emegano connected on a jumper from the baseline to open second-half scoring.

Western took its biggest lead of the game up until that point, 34-29, when Parks took off from just inside the free throw line and put back a missed Leatherneck shot with an aggressive two-handed slam.

The Leathernecks gradually increased their lead throughout the second, highlighted by another big dunk from Parks, and Clark connecting on his third triple of the game.

Houpt then connected on his first three-point attempt of the contest, followed up by Clark hitting another one from downtown, extending Western's lead to 13 points, 48-35, with

After South Dakota's Charlie Westbrook's three-point play to cut Western's lead back to 10 with 9:26 left in regulation, the Leathernecks exploded, going on a 19-6 run to conclude the game and pick up the 67-44 victory.

The Leathernecks (7-5, 2-2) will travel to Rochester, Michigan to face Oakland Thursday evening (Jan. 5) at 6 p.m., then face IPFW on Saturday (Jan. 7) at 1:30 p.m.

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