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Western Illinois University Athletics

80
Southern U. SU 1-3,0-0 SWAC
88
Winner Western Ill. WIU 2-2,0-0 OVC
Southern U. SU
1-3,0-0 SWAC
80
Final
88
Western Ill. WIU
2-2,0-0 OVC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 OT 1 F
Southern U. SU 32 40 8 80
Western Ill. WIU 35 37 16 88

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | WIU ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS

Leathernecks Rally for Overtime Win

Dent Jr. comes up big late in WIU win

MACOMB – Only a handful of days after getting head coach Chad Boudreau his first win as Western Illinois coach, the Leathernecks were able to get the coach his first win against a Division I foe, putting in a little extra work on Friday night, topping Southern University 88-80 in overtime. The win is the second straight for Western, which now hits the road for three-straight games, playing at Valparaiso on Tuesday, Illinois on Friday and Wisconsin next Monday.

"I got a big life insurance policy, but I need a bigger one," Western Illinois coach Chad Boudreau. "But we did it down the stretch. We stuck with it, I thought the guys, we talked before the game, it's like a boxing match, it's going to be head shots, body shots and I thought we did a good job sticking to it.

"We talk about holding the line, not too high, not too low, but we did a good job holding the line down the stretch."

Things were rolling early for the Leathernecks (2-2), who took a lead as large as nine in the game's first five minutes. But Southern managed to hang around, trailing WIU, 35-32 at the break.

Turnovers plagued Western Illinois in the first half, as 16 miscues allowed the Jaguars to hang around. In the second half, it was free throw shooting that hurt WIU as Southern took a lead as large as seven after intermission, but the Leathernecks were able to fight back into the game.

"Turnovers were killing us, 16 in the first half and we were struggling offensively, but we were still leading," Boudreau said. "Kyle, Chris and Clancy have been all over me because they're doing the defensive stuff, but we have to score some points, so despite that many turnovers and that many missed free throws, to still score 88 points is awesome."

Southern led 64-57 with 4:47 to go, but a 9-0 Leatherneck run gave Western a 66-64 advantage as Quinlan Bennett's (18 points, seven rebounds) bucket helped Western Illinois regain the lead with three minutes to go.

From there, it was back and forth as Southern led by four with under a minute to go. But James Dent Jr. (24 points, eight rebounds, three assists) hit a runner, then made a pair of free throws with one second left to force overtime.

"My teammates stayed on me, the first half wasn't really a good half for me but my teammates knew I would pick it up, they stayed on me all the way," Dent Jr. said. "Q (Quinlan Bennett) had a good game, Q kept us in the game. With Jesiah (West) in foul trouble, other players had to step up, Ryan (Myers) had to step up, he was big, we had everyone come together as a team."

In the extra session, Dent Jr. continued his clutch play, scoring Western's first seven points of overtime. After a JJ Kalakon free throw, Dent Jr. hit a pair from the line, giving the Leathernecks an 82-76 lead.

On Southern's ensuing possession, Drew Cisse (12 points, nine rebounds), recorded his fourth block of the night, setting the stage for the Leathernecks to ice the game at the line.

Ryan Myers (20 points) hit a pair of free throws, followed by for straight from the line by Dent, capping the final scoring.
 
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