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Western Illinois University Athletics

Garret Covington FP
WIU Visual Productions Center
87
Winner Fort Wayne IPFW 23-7, 12-3 SL
75
Western Illinois WIU 9-17, 2-13 SL
Winner
Fort Wayne IPFW
23-7, 12-3 SL
87
Final
75
Western Illinois WIU
9-17, 2-13 SL
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Fort Wayne IPFW 39 48 87
Western Illinois WIU 34 41 75

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

Fort Wayne Tops Western in Men’s Basketball Thursday

Garret Covington tied his season-high with 26 points

PHOTOS | COACH WRIGHT POSTGAME INTERVIEW

MACOMB, Ill. – Fort Wayne jumped out to an early double-digit advantage inside Western Hall Thursday evening (Feb. 25) on its way to an 87-75 Summit League men's basketball win over Western Illinois.
 
Fort Wayne, who entered and remains atop the league standings, improves to 23-7 overall and 12-3 in Summit League play with the win. Western falls to 9-17 overall and 2-13 in league action with the loss, and has been eliminated from The Summit League tournament.
 
"The last 48 hours we have talked about making sure we're doing two things, compete and execute on both ends of the floor for 40 minutes. I thought our guys did a really good job of competing. We just didn't execute on offense and defense for 40 minutes. IPFW is a good team, they are very skilled in the perimeter and I thought they did a really good job of closing the game getting to the free throw line and attacking us off the bounce. We have to do a better job of showing our hands and moving our feet," said head coach Billy Wright.
 
Junior Garret Covington tied his season-high with 26 points on 9-of-20 shooting from the field. It marks the fourth straight game, and sixth out of the last eight, with 20-plus points. He also dished out four assists, grabbed three rebounds, and tallied two steals.
 
Seniors Jalen Chapman and J.C. Fuller each added 11 points, while junior Mike Miklusak contributed nine points and a team-high seven rebounds. Fuller also dished out four assists.
 
Finishing with a team-high five assists along with six points was junior Jabari Sandifer.
 
Freshman center Brandon Gilbeck finished with a season-high eight points and six rebounds.
 
"Without Tate (Stensgaard) I thought it would be a challenge, but Brandon (Gilbeck) did a really good job filling in more minutes. I'd love to play him more than 15 minutes but he has to learn to stay out of foul trouble. But, him going 4-for-4 was definitely a bright spot moving forward," continued Wright.
 
IPFW bettered WIU in all shooting categories. Western had four more assists (17-13) and one less turnover (10-11) than the Mastodons.
 
Western finishes its 2015-16 season with senior night Saturday against South Dakota. The two teams will tipoff at 7 p.m. and all four WIU seniors will be recognized prior to the game.
 
"I emphasize year-round don't take this game for granted and thankfulness is a pillar in our program. We want to make sure we send our seniors out with a win and obviously we'll be down one senior in Tate, who has given us everything the last three years. The message is we never want to take this game for granted. This is the last time our seniors can put on the Leatherneck uniform. We want to make sure we give them everything we can to send them out with a win," concluded Wright.
 
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