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Western Illinois University Athletics

Garret Covington
WIU Visual Productions Center
54
Western Illinois WIU 2-5
76
Winner Cleveland State CSU 4-4
Western Illinois WIU
2-5
54
Final
76
Cleveland State CSU
4-4
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Western Illinois WIU 21 33 54
Cleveland State CSU 44 32 76

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | WIU Athletic Communications

Leathernecks Fall at Cleveland State Sunday

Western Illinois committed 21 turnovers in the 76-54 loss to Cleveland State

- Head coach Billy Wright's postgame radio interview

CLEVELAND – Western Illinois men's basketball dropped its nonconference game, 76-54, at Cleveland State Sunday (Dec. 7). The Fighting Leathernecks fall to 2-5 on the year after the defeat, while the Vikings improve to 4-4 on the season.
 
The Leathernecks struggled to take care of the ball in the loss, committing a season-high 21 turnovers while only dishing out 11 assists. The Vikings scored 34 points off of Western's turnovers.
 
WIU fell behind 5-0 after the opening two minutes of play, but eventually battled back to tie the game up, 7-7, at the 15:44 mark of the first half. Western stuck around for the next three minutes, never gaining the lead, but never trailing by more than three points.
 
The Vikings pulled away by using a 20-4 run that extended their lead to 17 points, 34-17, with a little more than five minutes left in the first half. CSU was able to add on to its lead before the break, and went into the locker room up 44-21 on the Leathernecks.
 
WIU cut its deficit back down to 17 after putting together a 9-0 run early in the second, but that would be as close as the Leathernecks would get for the remainder of the game.
 
Leading the Leathernecks in scoring was Garret Covington. The sophomore guard tallied 17 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field, 4-of-6 from the three-point line, and 3-of-3 from the free throw line. The Edwardsville, Ill. native has led the team in scoring in all but one game this season, and has now made a triple in 23 straight games.
 
Fellow sophomore guard Jabari Sandifer also finished in double figures, scoring a season-best 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting. The Naperville, Ill. native also finished with a team-high four assists.
 
Leading the team in rebounds was sophomore forward Mike Miklusak who grabbed five. He also added three assists in the game.
 
CSU shot better from all areas of the court, and pulled down more rebounds than WIU.
 
Trey Lewis led Cleveland State with a game-high 21 points on 7-of-11 shooting, and 4-of-4 from long range.
 
Western Illinois returns home this week for a pair of nonconference contests. Thursday (Dec. 11) WIU welcomes Idaho to LeRoy A. Ufkes Court inside Western Hall before playing host to Alabama State on Saturday night. Both games are scheduled to tipoff at 7 p.m.
 
Thursday's game is #ThrowbackThursday and fans are encouraged to wear their best throwbacks. Saturday's game is the 'Purple & Gold Challenge' game, and fans are asked to show their school spirit by wearing purple and gold.
 
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