Men's Basketball Travels South to Stetson

Monday, December 03, 2018 | By: WIU Athletic Communications

The Leathernecks take on Stetson for the first time in program history.

Western Illinois (4-4) at Stetson (1-8)
Date/Tipoff:	Dec. 5, 2018 \| 6 p.m. (CT)
Location:	DeLand, Fla.
Site:	Edmunds Center
Radio:	Danny Frey (WRMS 94.3 & WJEQ 102.7)

Series History: This will be the first meeting between the two programs.

Last Time Out: The Western Illinois (4-4) men's basketball team made late free throws to close out a hard-earned 70-63 win at SEMO (4-4) on Saturday evening (Dec. 1).

"We had tough losses at Eastern Illinois and UT Martin," head coach Billy Wright said. "All of the credit goes to our kids. They still had to go out there and do it. We had poise under pressure, took care of the ball and got defensive stops. That's what we need to be great at when it's winning time. Our second unit in the second half did a tremendous job of coming in and extending the lead. I really challenged them at halftime and they gave us a lift off the bench then the starters came back in to close the game."

Kobe Webster knocked down a mid-range jumper at the 14:39 mark of the first half to build a 17-5 Leatherneck lead. SEMO embarked on a 14-0 run over the next seven minutes, capped off by a Sage Tolbert layup for a 19-17 edge.

Western Illinois settled back into a 25-21 advantage on a right-side jumper by Isaac Johnson with under four minutes to go in the first half. Alex Caldwell knotted the game at 27 for the Redhawks with a wing triple and that was the halftime score.

Both teams exchanged baskets until halfway through the second half when Ben Pyle drilled back-to-back three-pointers as the Leathernecks led 52-45. SEMO battled to cut the deficit to 57-52 with 2:29 to go, but Johnson answered with a right-wing trifecta.

Webster drove in for a layup with one minute left in regulation for a double-digit advantage and after missing his first attempt, Pyle iced the game with six consecutive free throws. The Leathernecks drained eight threes and finished 14-of-17 from the charity stripe.

Pyle recorded his first career double with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Johnson scored 17 points and pulled down seven rebounds while Webster added 16 points.

Rejected: Brandon Gilbeck leads the nation in total blocked shots with 33 as of Thursday, Dec. 3. 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.

On The Road Again: The victory at SEMO on Dec. 1 marked the first road win for the Leathernecks since Nov. 22, 2017 at SIUE. Western Illinois is seeking back-to-back road wins for the first time since 2015 when the Leathernecks topped Wisconsin (Nov. 13, 2015) and Eastern Illinois (Nov. 21, 2015) away from Macomb. The 16 times that the Purple and Gold play on an opponent's floor is the program record for road games in a season.

Scouting the Hatters: Stetson (1-8) suffered a blowout loss, 113-49 at No. 3 Duke on Saturday, Dec. 1 and is currently on an eight-game losing streak. Sophomore forward Abayomi Iyiola paced the Hatters with 19 points while sophomore guard Christiaan Jones added 12 points.

Iyiola averages a team-high 13.0 points per game and 8.0 rebounds per game while Jones averages 12.7 points per game with 5.0 rebounds a contest. Corey Williams enters his sixth season as the Redhawks head coach and owns a 52-116 record. As a player, Williams was drafted in the second round of the NBA draft by the Chicago Bulls in 1992 out of Oklahoma State. Former Southeast Missouri head coach Dickey Nutt is in his first season as an assistant coach at Stetson.

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