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Jackson's 28 not enough in 72-59 loss to Texas-Pan American

December 25, 2007 on 9:50 pm | In Athletics |

MACOMB, Ill. David Jackson poured in a season-high 28 points to lead Western Illinois, but it was not enough as Texas-Pan American won 72-59.

The Broncs (4-2) grabbed their first and final lead of the game, 7-6, on a three-pointer by Paul Stoll with 12:54 left in the first half. After another UTPA bucket, the Leathernecks (2-4) answered with a layup from Jackson to cut the lead back to one. That was as close as Western came the rest of the way. Back-to-back three pointers gave the Broncs a seven-point lead, 15-8 with 8:30 left in the half. David DuBois provided the answer for Western as he converted the next eight points for the Leathernecks. He finished the first half with 14 points, after converting a layup at the buzzer to bring Western within three at the break, 26-23.

At the half, the teams had played near even in all aspects of the game. Both teams struggled from the field, but shooting percentage slightly favored the Leathernecks with 36% (11-of-36) to the Broncs 35% (10-of-29). UTPA held the edge in rebounds at 21-18. Both teams turned the ball over just four times in the half.

“The fact that we didn’t shoot the ball very well really bothered us a lot,” said Western Illinois head coach Derek Thomas. “Things were going okay early on. We only gave up 26 points in the first half and we thought that if we could shoot the ball well we’d be okay. But instead they came out and hit some shots and that hurt us.”

To start the second half, the Broncs utilized a 13-2 run to help build a lead of 41-25 with 15:58 left to play. Western managed to cut the lead to single digits with 12:12 to play as David Nurse converted a layup. UTPA again stretched its lead as Nathan Hawkins converted a bucket sandwiched between a pair of Stoll three-pointers. The lead stayed above 15 until Jackson connected from downtown with 2:38 to play put the score at 63-51. However, Western was not able to bring the deficit into single digits the rest of the way.

After a strong first half of 14 points and seven rebounds, DuBois was shut down in the second frame only managing to grab one rebound, without attempting a field goal.

“They were trying to take him away in the second half,” added Thomas. “Every time he got the ball he had two guys around him because they were packing the paint. They did a good job of keying on him. But that’s kind of how we feel about this team. If you can stop one guy, we’ll be able to get another one going. That’s what we were able to do with David Jackson in the second half.”

The Broncs found their stroke in the second half. They shot 61% (14-of-23) from the field, and 67% (4-of-6) from beyond the arc. Western managed to slightly improve its shooting in the second half by hitting 40% (12-of-30) from the field, but it was not enough to keep pace with UTPA.

Jackson finished the contest with a game-high 28 points, 22 of which came in the second half. Stoll led the attack for the Broncs with 22 points, which included 5-of-7 shooting from three-point range.

“Their game plan was to take the paint away from us, and normally I would say that I’m happy about that,” said Thomas. “But we just didn’t knock enough shots down. I think if we got a couple baskets early inside we would have been okay.”
Originaly from Source