MBB: IPFW Loses At Western Illinois

MACOMB, Ill. - The IPFW Mastodons were unable to overcome a 10-point halftime deficit, closing to within one in the second half, before the Leathernecks made 7-of-8 free throws down the stretch to clinch the 62-52 WIU win.

Frank Gaines scored a game-high 20 points, as Mario Hines and Michael Kibiloski each scored a half-dozen. Kibiloski pulled down a team-best six rebounds, while three players, John Peckinpaugh, Antwaun Boyd, and Justin Jordan each had three assists.

The loss drops IPFW to 10-12 overall and 4-9 in the league, while Western Illinois improves to 13-8 overall, and 7-5 in conference games.

The Leathernecks jumped ahead quickly in the first half, trailing only at 7-6 when Gaines made his first of two first-half three-pointers. Despite the lack of a lead, the majority of the first half was a nip-and-tuck battle with the teams tied four times.

Trailing by just two at 24-22, WIU ran off eight straight points as the Mastodons missed four straight points, as the Leathernecks took a ten-point, 34-24 lead into the locker room at halftime.

The Mastodons came bursting out of the locker room by scoring the first seven points of the second half to close the gap to three over the first two minutes of the period.

After a Tommie Tyler three-pointer for WIU, it was the Terrell Parks show, as the junior scored 13 of the team's next 15 points. The deficit closed to two on a Gaines three-point play, and to one with three minutes left when Jordan closed out a three-point play, closing the gap to 49-48.

Parks three-point play, followed by a Jack Houpt three-pointer over the next two possessions pushed the gap to seven, and IPFW could not close to within five the rest of the way in the ten-point loss.

Parks scored 15 points in all, 13 in the second half, while pulling down 11 rebounds for the double-double. Obi Emegano scores a dozen, as does Tyler, while Ceola Clark scored 11 while dishing out 10 assists.

The Mastodons made 19-of-51 (37.3 percent) of their shots from the field, and 5-of-19 (26.3 percent) from long range, and 9-of-12 from the charity stripe. WIU hit 22-of-48 shots (45.8 percent), while making 26.7 percent (4-of-15) of its free throws, and 14-of-17 on its free throws.

The 'Dons travel to Indianapolis to face off against in-state and conference rival IUPUI in a 1 p.m. tip-off at the Jungle on the campus of the Jaguars.