MACOMB, Ill. – Western Illinois cut its deficit to three points after Jabari Sandifer connected on a triple late Thursday evening (Feb. 13), but it wasn't enough as the North Dakota State Bison edged the Fighting Leathernecks, 56-52, inside Western Hall.

NDSU, who entered the contest #5 in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major 'Top 25' and atop the Summit League standings, improve to 8-2 in the League and 19-6 overall. Western drops to 9-15 overall in the year and 3-6 in league play.

"I thought we fought really hard," said head coach Jim Molinari. "We really did a great job of that, the only thing that killed us was our 17 turnovers, and ten of them came in the post. Other than that I thought our kids played really good defense and competed."

A back-and-forth first half led to the two teams finding themselves knotted up 24-24 with 3:08 to play before halftime.

For the remainder of the opening period and the first four minutes of the second half, the Bison outscored the Leathernecks 12-2 and led by 10 points, 36-26, at the 16:11 mark of the second.

WIU then began to chip away at the NDSU advantage, eventually cutting its deficit to one, 42-41, with 6:22 remaining in regulation.

The Leathernecks were unable to grasp the lead, but didn't allow NDSU run away with it as the Bison never led by more six points for the remainder of the contest.

Sandifer did not commit a turnover in 28 minutes of action, while matching his season-high with six assists. The Naperville, Ill. native also posted 13 points in the contest, marking the third consecutive game he has scored in double figures, and grabbed four rebounds.

Adam Link also finished with 13 points in the loss on 6-of-10 shooting from the field. The senior forward also pulled down five rebounds and tallied a steal and an assist.

Fellow senior Michael Ochereobia led the team in rebounds with six, and finished with nine points.

Although he was held without a point, sophomore guard Jordan Foster led WIU with three steals and dished out a pair of helpers.

"I thought Jordan (Foster) and Jabari (Sandifer) played really well and we had some other guys make some plays offensively. But that's the reality of it, we did a good job on the boards but we just had too many turnovers."

Both Tate Stensgaard and Mike Miklusak each finished with six points.

The Leathernecks will play host to South Dakota State on Saturday (Feb. 15) inside Western Hall. Tipoff is scheduled is 7 p.m.

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