MACOMB — It was a grind, but in the end, it was a victory. And that’s all that matters.
The Western Illinois men’s basketball team ran its win streak to six straight victories, topping Southeast Missouri 68-61 on Thursday night in the first Ohio Valley Conference game played in Macomb. The victory is also the seventh in eight games for the Leathernecks, who improved to 9-6 overall and 2-0 in the Ohio Valley Conference.
Rebounding, defense and free throw shooting led the way as the Leathernecks outrebounded the Redhawks 50-33, went 19-27 from the line vs. 4-11 for SEMO and for the ninth straight game, held an opponent to 71 points or fewer.
“We made free throws when it mattered, we want to make more than the other team takes, we did a good job down the stretch making those,” WIU coach Chad Boudreau. “Early on in the game, we had a decent rhythm, we just weren’t finishing. We had a set play, layup miss, putback miss and I told the guys, be selfish, score those points.
“We had an opportunity to jump on them early, they fought back, it turned into a grindy game, but that’s conference play, it’s going to be grindy and tough, which is good because there are some things from this game we can learn.”
The Leathernecks flexed their muscles on the offensive glass, finishing with 23 offensive boards and 19 second-chance points.
“The offensive rebounds were great, everybody’s going, guys are competitive about who’s getting the most rebounds, who’s getting the most offensive rebounds,” Boudreau said. “Drew (Cisse, six points, 14 rebounds, six blocks, four assists) is winning that competition, guys are getting mad at him because they feel he’s taking them all, but that’s what it’s about, we’re crashing the glass, James Dent (nine points) had seven rebounds, we’re athletic, we’re quick to the glass. Part of that is missing point-blank shots, so I’d like to see more made shots and less offensive rebounds, but there were 60 possessions, we had 68 points, that’s a good thing, that’s a positive, it’s a conference win and we’re 2-0.”
JJ Kalakon led the way for Western Illinois, scoring a career-high 16 points while also grabbing eight points. Ryan Myers continued his steady play, finishing with 16 points as well. Jesiah West added seven and eight rebounds while Quinlan Bennett finished with seven points.
The Leathernecks led for over three-quarters of the game and by as many as 10, but SEMO hung around, even taking a second-half lead before Western Illinois went to work at both ends of the floor and climbed back into the game.
“We try to look at everything, not look backwards, try to get better, but it’s one game at time,” Boudreau said. “We’ll celebrate tonight, then tomorrow it’s back to 0-0 and getting ready for Lindenwood.”
***Story courtesy of goleathernecks.com***
