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Jackson lifts Western to 71-69 victory on the road

December 28, 2007 on 9:40 pm | In Athletics |

EDINBURG, Texas David Jackson scored 22 points, as Western Illinois defeated Texas-Pan American 71-69.

Jackson’s jumper with 1:26 remaining gave the Leathernecks (3-5) the lead at 65-64. The Broncs (5-4) put Western to the free throw line six times the rest of the way, as Western converted all of those free throws to propel it to a 71-69 victory on the road.

“I have not seen a better second half than what I saw tonight, from a total team effort,” stated Western Illinois head coach Derek Thomas. “We had a little pow-wow the other night after the game. For these guys to be mature enough to talk about the things that we need to do and to realize what needs to happen really says a lot about them. That was an outstanding second half.”

The Leathernecks jumped out to a 2-0 lead as Jackson connected on Western’s first possession. The Broncs answered with a three-pointer from Dexter Shankle. A David DuBois jumper, followed by another Jackson bucket had Western out to a 6-3 lead. However, the lead did not hold as Nathan Hawkins hit a pair of free throws with 15:33 left in the half to give the Broncs the lead at 9-8. UTPA stretched the lead to as many as seven at 19-12.

Western managed to tie the game at 23-23 behind a pair of three-pointers from Chris Gonzalez and Josh Rivers on consecutive possessions. The Broncs answered back with a layup, but Rivers
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