MACOMB, Ill. - Western Illinois (8-18, 5-10) wraps up regular season play at home this Saturday (Feb. 25) when Fort Wayne (18-11, 7-8) visits Macomb... The Leathernecks and Mastodons are slated to tipoff at 7 p.m. on ESPN3. The men's basketball program will recognize the contributions of its 2016-17 senior class prior to the game, which incudes Jabari Sandifer, Mike Miklusak and Garret Covington.
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- OPENING TIP -
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- South Dakota pulled away in the second half on its way to defeating Western Illinois men's basketball Thursday night (Feb. 23) in Macomb, 92-81... The Leathernecks fell to 8-18 overall and 5-10 in league play after the loss, while South Dakota improved to 20-10 on the year and 11-4 in league games.
- Western Illinois is locked into the No. 8 seed in The Summit League Championship and will play either North Dakota State or South Dakota, depending on who earns the top seed... WIU's first round contest will take place March 4 at 6 p.m.
- Sophomore center Brandon Gilbeck averages 2.96 blocks per game, which ranks first in The Summit League and 7th nationally... He averages 3.55 blocks per game in league play... He has recorded three or more blocks in 18 of WIU's 26 games this season and four blocks in four of the last five contests.
- After scoring 20-plus points in nine of WIU's first 15 games, senior guard Garret Covington had a streak of seven straight games without reaching 20 points in a game... He snapped that streak at ORU (Feb. 8) with 20 points and has scored 20-plus points in each of the last five games including 32 at NDSU (Feb. 18).
- Delo Bruster has missed seven of the last eight games with a leg injury... The only action he saw in the last eight games was a few minutes in WIU's home game vs. Denver (Feb. 18)... He is questionable for Saturday's game.
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WHAT IS NEXT?:Â After Western concludes the regular season at home against Fort Wayne Saturday, the Leathernecks head to Sioux Falls, S.D. for The Summit League Championship March 4-7... The Leathernecks will be the eighth seed and face either North Dakota State or South Dakota in the opening round.
LEATHERNECKS VS. COYOTES SERIES HISTORY:Â Fort Wayne leads the all-time series 15-8... The Leathernecks won the first-ever meeting 74-63 on January 11, 1988 and the most recent meeting earlier this season in Fort Wayne (Dec. 29), 93-91.... To begin the series, WIU lost 10 of the first 12 meetings to Fort Wayne, and found themselves trailing 10-2 in the series... Western then won four consecutive games and has most recently lost five of the last seven games to the Mastodons... Fort Wayne swept the season series last year.
A LOOK AT FORT WAYNE:Â The Fort Wayne Mastodons enter Saturday's game with an 18-11 overall record and 7-8 Summit League record... Fort Wayne is led by Mo Evans who averages team bests in points (17.4), assists (6.0) and steals (1.8)... Three other players average more than 10 points a game: Bryson Scott (16.6), John Konchar (14.8) and Kason Harrell (10.7)... Fort Wayne is coached by Jon Coffman (Washington & Lee '96) who is in his sixth year at the helm... Entering Saturday's contest, Coffman enter's Thursday's game with a 58-36 record as a head coach of the Mastodons.
GILBECK'S BLOCK PARTY: Sophomore center Brandon Gilbeck has a Summit League-high 77 blocks (2.96 per game)... His 74 total blocks also ranks 8th nationally and his 2.96 blocks per game ranks 7th in the country... His 77 blocks rank second most ever in a season at WIU... He is six blocks away from from tying the program record and seven away from recording more blocks in a season than anyone in program history... The sophomore also already has 99 blocks during his two years which ranks tied for fifth all-time at WIU... He is one block from taking sole possession of fifth place, four blocks from moving into fourth place and 12 away from third place.
#1 IN CAREER POINTS: Garret Covington ranks first in points at Western Illinois during the program's NCAA Division I era... Covington enters the weekend with 1,836 career points (3rd in all of the program's history)... Covington scored 422 (14.6 PPG) as a freshman, 434 (15.5 PPG) as a sophomore, 483 (17.9 PPG) as a junior and has 487 (19.1 PPG) so far this season... He has scored 30-plus points five times during his career with 34 vs. Oral Roberts at home this season being his career best.
#1 IN 3-POINTERS: Garret Covington also ranks first all-time in 3-pointers at Western Illinois... Covington enters the weekend with 286 career 3-pointers... He made 70 triples (2.5 per game | 38.7%) as a freshman, 63 (2.3 per game | 35.6%) as a sophomore, 77 (2.9 per game | 42.3%) as a junior, and 76 (2.9 per game | 37.3 %) so far as a senior... He has made a career-high six 3-pointers three times, including twice this season (vs. SDSU and vs. ORU)... The first time he his six in a game was during his sophomore season vs. Idaho at home when he made them consecutively (tied WIU's record for consecutive threes in a game).
AT HOME:Â Western is 49-30 (.620) inside Western Hall since the beginning of the 2011-12 season... The Leathernecks went 10-4 (.714) during their 2011-12 campaign, 12-2 (.857) during the 2012-13 league slate, 7-5 in 2013-14 (.583), 8-6 (.571) in 2014-15, 7-6 (.500) in 2015-16, and WIU is 5-7 on LeRoy A. Ufkes Court inside Western Hall so far this season.
ON THE ROAD:Â WIU is 20-64 (.238) on the road since the beginning of the 2011-12 season, and 7-48 (.127) since the beginning of the 2013-14 season... The Leathernecks went 6-10 (.375) in 2011-12, they were above .500 in 2012-13 with a 7-6 (.538) road mark, struggled again during the 2013-14 season with a 1-13 (.071) record on the road, went 0-13 (.000) in 2014-15, and finished the 2015-16 season 3-11 on the road... So far this season WIU is 3-11 on the road.
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