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Western Illinois University Athletics

WIU Athletics
52
Western Ill. WIU 2-4,0-0 OVC
84
Winner Illinois Illini 5-1,0-0 Big Ten
Western Ill. WIU
2-4,0-0 OVC
52
Final
84
Illinois Illini
5-1,0-0 Big Ten
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Western Ill. WIU 23 29 52
Illinois Illini 40 44 84

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

Western Illinois Falls to Illinois, drops to 2-4

Leathernecks next at Wisconsin on Monday

CHAMPAIGN – The Western Illinois men's basketball fell at Illinois on Friday night, dropping a contest to the No. 17 ranked Illini 84-52. The Leathernecks are next in action on Monday, visiting Wisconsin at 6 p.m.

The Leathernecks had big nights from James Dent Jr. (20 points) and Drew Cisse (12 rebounds, eight points). Jesiah West added 11 points while Ryan Myers scored 10.

Illinois led big early, getting out to a 20-6 lead, but a big run highlighted by eight-straight points from Dent Jr. cut Illinois' lead to five, 21-16. But the Illini had a strong close to the half, leading 40-23 at the break.

Western Illinois (2-4) was able to cut the deficit to 12 on a Tay Knox bucket, but never was able to get into single digits in the second half.

"Brad Underwood's teams play that way, they come at you in waves, they do a good job making runs, we knew the runs were coming, but, I'm happy with the guys, I'm happy with the way they competed," WIU coach Chad Boudreau said. "One of the big things, I did not want us quitting, someone is always watching, someone is always paying attention, we're doing good things and we kept fighting and kept competing."

Western Illinois went 21-72 (29 percent) from the field, while going 4-8 (50) from the line and 6-25 (24 percent) from three. The Illini went 34-72 (47 percent) from the field, 6-12 (50 percent) from the line and 10-25 (40 percent) from three.

The Leathernecks were outrebounded 54-38 while Illinois outscored WIU 44-26 in the paint and 23-7 on second-chance points.
 
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