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Leathernecks back to .500 in Summit play with 77-62 win over UMKC

March 12, 2008 on 9:40 pm | In Athletics |

MACOMB, Ill. - David Jackson and Jerryck Owens-Murrey scored 16 points each as Western Illinois University defeated UMKC, 77-62, to move back to .500 in The Summit League.

After a back-and-forth battle over the first 10 minutes of the game, Jackson put the Leathernecks (10-11, 5-5 The Summit League) ahead for good with 9:26 left in the first half on a free-throw making it an 18-17 contest. That free throw sparked a 15-1 run for Western as it pushed its lead to 30-18 over the next 4:22. Tim Blackwell silenced the run with a three-pointer for the Kangaroos (8-15, 3-7 The Summit League). The Leathernecks pushed the lead back to double digits and held a 39-24 advantage at the break.

“We knew that they were going to be fired up and come out strong,” said Western Illinois head coach Derek Thomas. “They are a team who can score in bunches. If you don’t take them out of their sets, they can hurt you. There were times tonight where we got in a rat race. We wanted to make them run their back door cuts, but we didn’t do a good job rotating over and it hurt us a little.”

An Owens-Murrey layup built the lead to 20 points with 17:52 left. UMKC fought back to cut its deficit to 15 points at 53-38. Josh Rivers capped a 7-0 run for Western when he connected from downtown to extend the lead to 20. Another three by Rivers with 10:47 to play gave the Leathernecks their largest lead of the night at 23 points. UMKC battled back once again, cutting the lead to 12 at two separate times, but could get no closer in the final 3:58 of the game.

“We know that home games are important and we let one of those get away Saturday,” added Thomas. “February is all about momentum and we knew we had to get it back tonight. We told the guys to enjoy this one for a couple hours, but tomorrow we have to focus and get ourselves ready for this Saturday.”

Western utilized a balanced scoring attack as David DuBois (14 points), Chris Gonzalez (11 points) and Josh Rivers (11 points) all joined Jackson and Owens-Murrey in double-figures. Blackwell scored a game-high 17 to lead the way for the Kangaroos.

“We’ve been trying to work on figuring out what a team wants to do to stop us, and a lot of that is stopping Jerryck (Owens-Murrey). We want to work the ball around and try to get that entry at different angles. When guys like Josh (Rivers) are hitting shots, it makes things a lot easier.”

“Our staff has done a good job of understanding that we need to define roles on this team,” Thomas continued. “It took us a while to understand that we have a few guys that are going to score, and the rest of them will get theirs when it comes. They are starting to understand who they are and it’s making things easier for us.”

Western held its largest advantage of the season on the glass, 38-20. However, the Leathernecks struggled to control the ball, turning it over 17 times, to the 16 times of the Kangaroos.

“We lost a little focus with our big lead tonight. I told the guys that we have to learn to play better with the lead. You can’t lose focus because they are coming after you and we have to take care of the ball at that point.”

Along with forcing turnovers, UMKC stayed in the game by shooting 80 percent (16-of-20) from the charity stripe. Western was able to counter with a strong night from the field however, by shooting 56 percent (28-of-50), including 50 percent (9-of-18) from three-point range.

“We’ve been a team that everyone says is near the bottom of the league. We’ve been wanting to show everyone that we’re not just a team that had a nice week and we’re here to stay.”

The Leathernecks will look to avenge a league loss to Southern Utah as the Thunderbirds come to Waste Management Court at Western Hall for a 7 p.m. matchup Saturday.

Originaly from Source