MACOMB, Ill. – Western Illinois remained undefeated at home Saturday evening (Nov. 30) with a 76-49 victory over Greenville inside Western Hall. The Fighting Leathernecks improved to 2-4 overall after the win, and 2-0 at home, while Greenville fell to 4-2.

“It didn't feel right in the first half again and I'm still trying to put my finger on it. In the second half, it felt better,” said head coach Jim Molinari. “It's the kind of way we have to play. We're not an overly fast team but we can be a powerful team, and we just need to do the things we do well. I thought we took away threes and we have to do that. We took care of the ball.”

WIU opened the game on a 5-0 run and never gave up the advantage throughout the contest. Western used the entire first half to build its lead to 10 points at the break.

The Leathernecks' increased their lead in the second, never surrendering their double-digit lead, and building it up to as large as 28 near the end.

Every Leatherneck that played scored at least one point and grabbed at least one rebound, while eight players tallied at least one steal, and eight players dished out at least 1 assist.

Seven of the nine players to record a rebound had at least three, while seven of the nine players to enter the game played at least 20 minutes in the Leatherneck win.

Senior Adam Link finished with a career-high five blocks in the win to go along with his game-high 16 points. Link also grabbed a team-high six rebounds, tallied a team-high five assists, and had one steal.

Three other Leathernecks finished with more than 10 points in Jordan Foster (11), Tate Stensgaard (10) and Michael Ochereobia (10).

Freshman Jabari Sandifer notched a team-high four assists in the outing. It marked the fifth game this season the Naperville, Ill. native recorded at least three assists.

Junior Mohamed Conde tallied a game-high five steals.

Greenville was led by Tim Daniel and Tevin Rollins, who finished with nine and eight points, respectively. Ron Harris finished with a game-high eight rebounds for the Panthers, while Daniel grabbed seven boards.

The Leathernecks shot better than GC from the field, shooting at a 54.7% clip, while the Panthers went 20-of-52 from the floor (38.5%). Both teams struggled from beyond the arc with WIU going 2-of-8 (25%), while Greenville went 1-of-12 (8.3%).

Western struggled from the free throw line again, going 4-of-11 (36.4%). GC finished 8-of-8 from the charity stripe (100%).

WIU finished better in nearly every statistical category: assists (20-12), turnovers (9-23), blocks (8-0), steals (16-6), and fouls (10-11).

“Wednesday, against Eastern, we have to have a huge crowd because Eastern is playing extremely well,” continued Molinari. “They blitzed UIC, they played with Northwestern, it'll be a much different game.”

Western continues its three-game homestand Wednesday (Dec. 4) when the Leathernecks play host to in-state rival Eastern Illinois at 7 p.m.