Sport in world

Defense leads to 65-50 league win over IPFW

March 5, 2008 on 10:10 pm | In Athletics |

MACOMB, Ill. - David Nurse and David Jackson scored 13 points each in Western Illinois’ 65-50 victory over IPFW.

The Leathernecks (9-10, 4-4 Summit) took a 29-28 lead, which they never relinquished, with 15:47 left in the game on a Nurse layup. The bucket sparked a 12-4 run that was capped off by a Jerryck Owens-Murrey dunk with 11:54 left in the game. Owens-Murrey picked up a technical, one of three total called in the game, on the dunk. However, that did not slow Western down, as they built its lead to double-digits just over three-minutes later on an Owens-Murrey layup on a fast break to make it a 48-37 score. The Mastodons (7-12, 4-4 Summit) cut the deficit to seven on a Ben Botts three-pointer with 7:24 left. The Leathernecks regained their 10-point lead when Jackson connected from downtown, sparking a 9-1 run over the next 4:16 that gave Western its largest lead of the game at 18 points. IPFW’s three-pointer with :36 left was their first field goal since the 7:24 mark. The 50 points allowed by the Leathernecks was their best defensive effort of the season.

“We always tell the guys not to worry about the scoreboard and just think about getting stops,” stated Western Illinois head coach Derek Thomas. “If you worry about what you do by getting stops and limiting your turnovers, you’re going to be in the game. We wanted them to know that we were going to be guarding them on every possession.”

Western started the game off strong by forcing four turnovers on the first six possessions, opening up a 10-2 lead through the first 7:35 of the game. The lead did not hold as IPFW stormed back by holding the Leathernecks without a field goal for the next 11:00 of the half. Jackson put Western back in the scoring column with a jumper to make it a 15-12 Mastodon lead. They maintained that lead until David DuBois tied the score at 22-22 with 2:05 to play on a layup. After IPFW took the lead back, James Washington hit a three-pointer on Western’s final first-half possession to tie the score at 26-26 going into the break.

“If you let them run their stuff, they’re going to carve you up,” Thomas stated of the defensive effort. “We locked them up the first eight to 10 minutes but then we got a little relaxed. We told them that you can’t let that first pass get in there, we wanted to eliminate that and make them play more one-on-one because they are such good passers. We knew if we could take away that first look that they would get into a game that they’re not comfortable with.”

Jackson and Nurse were joined by Dubois and Washington, with 10 points each, in double figures for Western. DuBois also grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds, for his second double-double of the season. Botts led the Mastodons with 15 points.

The Leathernecks controlled the battle on the glass 38-28. In addition, they managed to force IPFW into 20 turnovers for the game, and translated those into 18 points. Western also dominated points in the paint, 31-12.

“We’re at home and have to understand that we have to protect our home court,” added Thomas. “We had the crowd behind us and know that we have to come out and make our opponents uncomfortable on this floor. That’s what we’ve been doing here lately and it’s paying off.”

Western welcomes Oakland to Macomb for a 7 p.m. match up Saturday night at Western Hall.

Originaly from Source