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Sarah Twidwell

Men's Basketball Continues OVC Tour

| By: WIU Athletic Communications

The Leathernecks begin the month of December at Southeast Missouri State on Saturday night.

Western Illinois (3-4) at SEMO (4-3)                                    
Date/Tipoff: Dec. 1, 2018 | 6:30 p.m.
Location: Cape Girardeau, Mo.
Site: Show Me Center
Radio: Danny Frey (WRMS 94.3 & WJEQ 102.7)

Series History: SEMO leads the all-time series 4-1 and took the last meeting against the Leathernecks on Nov. 16, 2016 inside Western Hall, 74-71. 

Last Time Out: The Western Illinois (3-4) men's basketball team sank a season- high 12 three-pointers in a dominant 83-58 victory over SIUE (1-4) on Wednesday night (Nov. 28).  
 
The Leathernecks embarked on a 9-2 run to start the game, guided by the play of Brandon Gilbeck and Isaac Johnson.  Western's 7-footer worked off the dribble to open the game with a midrange jumper and the Leathernecks never trailed from there, despite a pressuring Cougar offense.
 
SIUE crept within four, 12-8, at the midpoint of the first half and attempted to use the paint for scoring opportunities – many of those attempts were blocked by Gilbeck. His fourth swat led to a transition dunk on the opposite end of the floor as Western led by as much as 14 points in the opening half.
 
Zion Young drained a deep three-pointer as time expired to send his team into the locker room with a 37-24 advantage and the Leatherneck came out of the break on fire.
 
Ben Pyle hit back-to-back three-pointers to force an early SIUE timeout in the second half nearly three minutes as the margin moved out of reach, 47-25. Offensive measures saw the team nearly double its lead at 65-33 on a trey from Kobe Webster at the 11-minute mark as the Leathernecks crowned the second half shooting 62.5 percent (15-for-24) from the field. Webster knocked down another triple for the largest lead of the evening, 75-40 with 6:30 to go. 
 
Webster led the way with 22 points, six rebounds and five assists. Johnson scored 20 points while Gilbeck nearly missed a double-double with 10 points, nine rebounds and six blocks. C.J. Duff rounded out the double-digit scoring with 10 points.

Rejected:Brandon Gilbeck leads the nation in total blocked shots with 30 as of Thursday, Nov. 29. The senior recorded a career-high nine at Eastern Illinois on Nov. 17 to highlight a stellar outing where he also posted a career-high 19 rebounds. 
 
The EIU game marked Gilbeck's first time leading the team in rebounds this season. He became the first Leathernecks to post 15 or more since Tate Stensgaardpulled down 15 against Eastern on Dec. 12, 2015. 
 
Lights Out Shooting: The Leathernecks have shot over 50 percent from the field in three games this season including a 58 percent shooting clip against SIUE on Wednesday, Nov. 28.


Scouting the Redhawks: SEMO (4-3) barely edged Division II Missouri S&T, 72-69 on Tuesday, Nov. 27. Sophomore guard Ledarrius Brewer paced the Redhawks with a double-double of 20 points and 11 rebounds. 

Brewer averages a team-high 13.7 points per game and 7.3 rebounds per game through seven contests while junior guard Skyler Hogan averages 10.1 points per game. Rick Ray enters his fourth season as the Redhawks head coach and owns a 38-62 record. Before SEMO, Ray spent three years as the head coach of Mississippi State going 37-60 and 13-41 in SEC play. 
 
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