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Jalen Chapman FP
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Jalen Chapman finished with a season-high 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting in the Leathernecks' loss
67
Western Illinois WIU 5-1
97
Winner Creighton CU 5-1
Western Illinois WIU
5-1
67
Final
97
Creighton CU
5-1
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Western Illinois WIU 31 36 67
Creighton CU 44 53 97

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

Leathernecks Suffer First Loss of Season to Big East Member Creighton

Both Western Illinois and Creighton sit 5-1 on the year after the nonconference tilt

Coach Wright Post Game Interview

OMAHA, Neb. – Western Illinois men's basketball suffered its first defeat of the 2015-16 season in Omaha Saturday evening (Nov. 28) as Big East member Creighton topped the Fighting Leathernecks, 97-67.
 
Both teams sit 5-1 on the season after the contest.
 
After the opening five minutes of play WIU found itself down by only one, 16-15, in front of 16,118 fans inside CenturyLink Arena. Creighton, however, outscored Western 28-16 during the remainder of the first half and took a 44-31 lead into the break.
 
WIU was able to cut its deficit to 13 points early in the second, but that would be as close as Creighton would allow Western to get as the Bluejays cruised to their third consecutive victory.
 
Junior Garret Covington and senior Jalen Chapman led Western with 14 and 13 points, respectively. Chapman, who shot 6-of-8 from the field, also grabbed four rebounds and recorded a team-high two blocks.
 
Leading the team in assists for the fourth time this season and 38th time in his career was Jabari Sandifer who dished out six. The Naperville, Illinois native also grabbed a team-high five rebounds.
 
The Bluejays out-rebounded the Leathernecks 47-29, with 19 of CU's boards being on the offensive end.
                                                                                              
WIU also committed 23 fouls to Creighton's 16, and only went to the free throw line six times (3-of-6) compared to the Bluejays' 27 attempts from the charity stripe (17-of-27).
 
For the first time this season WIU shot under 50 percent from the field. The Leathernecks connected on 45.0 percent from their attempts from the field while the Bluejays made 50.7 percent of their shots. CU was hot in the second half, shooting 62.5 percent (20-of-32) from the floor and 60.0 percent (6-of-10) from long range in the second half.
 
Creighton was led by Khyri Thomas and Geoffrey Groselle who finished with 18 and 17 points, respectively.
 
Western Illinois returns home Wednesday, Dec. 2, playing host to Silver Lake inside Western Hall. Tipoff between the Leathernecks and Lakers is slated for 7 p.m.
 
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