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Jalen Morgan and Dalan Ancrum
WIU Visual Productions Center
Jalen Morgan (22) and Dalan Ancrum (15) defend a Hannibal-LaGrange player
57
Hannibal-LaGrange HLG 1-3
94
Winner Western Illinois WIU 2-0
Hannibal-LaGrange HLG
1-3
57
Final
94
Western Illinois WIU
2-0
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Hannibal-LaGrange HLG 34 23 57
Western Illinois WIU 50 44 94

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | WIU Athletics

Men’s Basketball Improves to 2-0 with Victory Over Hannibal-LaGrange

Five WIU players scored in double figures for the first time since 2009

PHOTOS | Coach Wright Postgame Interview

MACOMB, Ill. – Fighting Leatherneck men's basketball improved to 2-0 on the season with a 94-57 victory over Hannibal-LaGrange Sunday evening inside Western Hall. The 2-0 start is the program's first since the 2010-11 season.
 
"We got off to a sluggish start. I give Hannibal credit, I think they did a great job offensively. We knew the potential problem, and if it was exploited we would have to make adjustments and that's ultimately what happened in the game," said head coach Billy Wright.
 
Five Leathernecks scored in double figures for the first time since 2009. Garret Covington led the way with 14, J.C. Fuller and Jabari Sandifer each tallied 13, Delo Bruster contributed 11, and Jalen Morgan finished with 10.
 
"Tonight's game plan was to continue to do what we do and hopefully the scoreboard would take care of itself. We got in a tough stretch in the first half, Hannibal did a great job running their offense and ultimately it gave us some problems. But once we got the game under control in the second half, the last 12-13 minutes there was an opportunity to rest our starters," continued Wright.
 
The Leathernecks and Trojans played a tight first 15 minutes of action. During that time there were six ties and seven lead changes, with neither team holding more than a six-point advantage.
 
Western then used a 20-3 run during the final 4:17 of the first half to take a 50-34 lead into halftime.
 
The second half was all WIU as the Leathernecks outscored the Trojans 44-23 during the final 20 minutes. Two 10-0 Western runs highlighted the period.
 
"It was a great victory, tough turn around, a quick turn around for us. As a coaching staff you always wonder about the morale and the focus will be after a big win. We returned home Friday night around 3:30-4:00 in the morning, but when we set our nonconference schedule we knew that was going to be the case. Part of nonconference is preparing you for conference play and hopefully postseason play," concluded Wright.
 
Covington led all scorers with 14 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the field. The Edwardsville, Ill. native also connected on 3-of-6 from long range and made all three of the free throws. The junior also had a team-high three of the team's 11 steals, and pulled down four rebounds.
 
Recording his first-career double-double was Fuller who grabbed 11 rebounds to go along with his 13 points. Like Covington, the senior guard made 4-of-8 attempts from the floor, and was perfect from the charity stripe, making all four of his attempts. He also contributed four assists.
 
Sandifer played a team-high 25 minutes and only missed one shot all night. The junior guard's 13 points came from 3-of-4 shooting from the field, 2-of-2 shooting from the three-point line, and connecting on 5-of-5 attempts from the free throw line. He also dished out three helpers and recorded two steals.
 
Besides his season-high 11 points, Bruster added a team-high five assists.
 
The Leathernecks continued to shoot well from the floor, knocking down 54.5 percent (30-55) of their attempts. WIU held Sunday night's opponent to under 40 percent shooting (34.4), which they also did against Wisconsin in the team's season-opening game. Besides continuing to shoot well from the field, Western also shot well from the 3-point line (52.0 percent) and the free-throw line (91.3 percent). The Leathernecks made a total of 13 3-pointers which was two shy of tying the program record.
 
WIU had more rebounds (43-24), steals (11-5), assists (20-11) and blocks (5-0) than the Trojans. Both teams committed 13 turnovers.
 
Western Illinois will conclude its three games in five days stretch Tuesday evening (Nov. 17) when they play host to UIC inside Western Hall. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. with the game scheduled to air nationally on ESPN3.
 
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