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Western Illinois University Athletics

WIU Athletics
78
Winner Western Ill. WIU 8-6,1-0 OVC
70
SIUE SIUE 8-7,1-1 OVC
Winner
Western Ill. WIU
8-6,1-0 OVC
78
Final
70
SIUE SIUE
8-7,1-1 OVC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Western Ill. WIU 33 45 78
SIUE SIUE 32 38 70

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

Western Illinois Opens OVC Play with Win

Leathernecks finish strong to top SIUE, 78-70

EDWARDSVILLE, Illinois – It was back and forth fight to the finish, but the Western Illinois men's basketball team made their Ohio Valley Conference debut a successful one, going on the road and topping SIU Edwardsville 78-70 in the league opener for the Leathernecks.

The game featured 10 ties and 26 lead changes, but in the end, Western Illinois (8-6 overall, 1-0 in the OVC) was strong enough, extending their win streak to five games and winning their sixth in seven games.

"It was a great game, it was a great game to start OVC play, and if we would have lost, I would have said the same thing," WIU coach Chad Boudreau said. "If was a case of who is going to have the ball in the last minute. We were trying to create some separation, we got that separation, I thought everyone who played, played great, the energy of the bench was awesome, Clancy and Kyle, the guys with the scout did a great job, but it's one game. We're 1-0, that's what I told the guys, we have to keep grinding these out one at a time."

The two teams went back and forth all night, but WIU hit six-straight free throws and got three straight stops, closing out the game on a 6-0 run to win by eight.

"The road win is big, coming into conference, it was big to close out our first OVC game well," said Jesiah West, who recorded his third double-double of the season, finishing with 15 points and 10 rebounds. "This is how all our OVC games are going to be, we're going to know each other so much, I feel as though we have to impose our will and finish the game."

Hitting four of those free throws and several clutch field goals was Ryan Myers, who led the team with 21 points.

"We stuck to everything coach told us, we know we're a big, athletic, physical team," Myers said. "The goal was to beat them up inside and wear their guards down. They have a couple really good guards, but we wanted to wear them down and play our game and everything would take care of itself."

Despite the back and forth nature of the contest, the Leathernecks led the bulk of game, including 33-32 at halftime. WIU turnovers kept the game tight but after the break, the team cleaned up the mistakes.

"They had 13 points off turnovers in the first half, that's too many, but we took care of the ball better in the second half," Boudreau said. "We battled, defensively I thought we were really good, offensively at times we put more stress on our defense, which is something I harped on at the beginning of the year. Our defense is our bread and butter, so we have to keep that going and if we don't turn the ball over, that will only help."

The Leathernecks also flexed their muscles on the boards, outrebounding SIUE 34-22.

"That's who we are, we're not going to win a free throw contest, but we'll win a rebounding contest, and we know that," Boudreau said. "I thought in the first half, we didn't do a great job of offensive rebounding, we got pretty stale, but tin the second half we did a better job.

"All in all, it's a good road win, but it's only one, we have to keep building and keep getting better. We're not to our ceiling yet, we can't get comfortable and move on to SEMO."

Also having a big night for the Leathernecks was Quinlan Bennett, who finished with 12 points, the bulk coming in the opening half to get WIU rolling. James Dent Jr. was also in double figures, finishing with 10 points, all after intermission.

As a team, WIU went 29-53 from the floor, 5-13 from three and 15-20 from the line while SIUE went 25-53 from the floor, 8021 from three and 12-15 from the line.

WIU returns home for a pair of OVC games next week, hosting SEMO inside Western Hall on Thursday and Lindenwood on Saturday.
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