Skip To Main Content

Upcoming Events and Recent Results

Western Illinois University Athletics

Jesiah dunk
59
Tennessee St. TSU 18-15,10-8 OVC
61
Winner Western Ill. WIU 21-11,13-5 OVC
Tennessee St. TSU
18-15,10-8 OVC
59
Final
61
Western Ill. WIU
21-11,13-5 OVC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Tennessee St. TSU 30 29 59
Western Ill. WIU 30 31 61

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

Survive and Advance: Leathernecks Move On With OVC Victory

Myers' bucket with 2.3 advances WIU to conference semis

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Survive and advance, indeed. That is what the Western Illinois men's basketball team did on Thursday night as Ryan Myers' bucket with 2.3 seconds left gave the Leathernecks a 61-59 win over Tennessee State in the quarterfinals of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament.

The victory sends the Leathernecks (21-11) to the OVC semifinals and a matchup with top-seed Little Rock at 7 p.m. on Friday.

The game was tight throughout but Western Illinois made the stops and got the points they needed in the slugfest.

"This is a big win for us and the program, but we have two more to win," Quinlan Bennett, who scored a team-high 18 points and added ten rebounds for his second double-double this season.

The game featured 13 ties and ten lead changes as a TSU free throw tied the game with 17 seconds to go. Rather than use a timeout, the Leathernecks went to, putting the ball in the hands of Myers, who went to the basket and delivered the good.

"Coach did call Zoom 5, but me, I'm embracing being here, so went with it and am grateful I made the shot," Myers said.

"Older teams, they can play through the adversity, they can sort it out, they don't need me to bail them out," WIU coach Chad Boudreau added. "I don't bail them out anywhere else, I don't bail them out in the classroom, off the floor, so we can work through it and sort it out."

The game was a defensive struggle from the outset as the two teams were tied 30-30 at the break.

In the second half, it was much the same as the two squads traded punches, taking turns appearing to pull away before the other team fought back.

Turnovers and free throws haunted the Leathernecks as 19 WIU giveaways led to 25 Tiger points. Also, WIU struggles from the charity stripe, going 16-29 (55.2 percent) But when the game got tough, the Leathernecks were tougher, grinding out the win.

"We made sure we stuck together, before the game started, in shootaround, we told each other to stay together, and that's what we did and what helped us win the game," Bennett said.

The Leathernecks led by as many as eight in the second half, but TSU took a lead as large as five with eight minutes to go. A JJ Kalakon (12 points, eight rebounds) basket with 6:39 left tied the game and a free throw by Jesiah West (12 points, nine rebounds) gave WIU a 52-51 lead. Tennessee State regained the lead on its next possession and never trailed until the basket by Myers.

Drew Cisse added six points and 12 rebounds for Western Illinois. The Leathernecks went 21-56 (37.5) from the field, 3-17 (17.6) from three and 16-29 (55.2) from the line. WIU outrebounded Tennessee State 52-36, scoring 14 second-chance points.

The win is the first for WIU in conference tournament play since a first-round victory over South Dakota State in the 2018-19 conference quarterfinals. The Leathernecks have not advanced to a conference championship game since the 2011-12 season. 
Print Friendly Version