W. Illinois stops SE without top guns

MACOMB, Ill. -- Despite playing without its two leading scorers -- who also happen to be the team's top two inside players -- Western Illinois University had little trouble in sweeping the season series from Southeast Missouri State University.

The Leathernecks closed the first half with a 23-7 run to take control and went on to beat the visiting Indians 82-75 Wednesday night.

WIU, which had knocked off the Indians 71-58 on Dec. 1 in Cape Girardeau, improved to 8-4 with its fourth straight victory. Southeast fell to 2-9.

Missing for the Leathernecks Wednesday were bruising forwards Sean Mason (11.9 ppg) and Luis Rivas (11.0 ppg), who are both out with injuries. That pair combined for 26 points during the earlier meeting with Southeast, Mason getting 16.

But the Leathernecks made up for the inside absence of Mason and Rivas by hitting 10 3-point baskets -- in 23 attempts -- as they built a 19-point second-half lead and then held off a late Southeast rally.

"We did not do a good job of taking the three away from them in either half," said Southeast coach Gary Garner.

Six players scored in double figures for the Leathernecks, led by Quentin Mitchell with 17 points. He hit five of 10 3-pointers.

Lorenzo Lawrence had 13 points, followed by Cory Fosdyck (12), Karl Petersen (11), Brian Williams (11) and Johnny Johnson (10). Johnson pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds as WIU won the battle of the boards 35-30.

Brett Hale paced the Indians with 17 points to go along with five rebounds and five assists. Also in double figures were Derek Winans and Tim Scheer with 15 points apiece and Drew DeMond with 11. Scheer led the Southeast rebounders with six.

"Brett Hale played extremely well on both ends of the floor," Garner said.

The Indians held an 18-13 lead with under nine minutes remaining in the first half, but the Leathernecks closed the period with a 23-7 run to assume command. Williams hit one of two free throws with 7:06 left to put WIU up for good at 19-18. The half ended with the Leathernecks on top 36-25.

Turnovers haunt Indians

Southeast was done in over the first half in large part by 12 turnovers.

"That stretch in the first half is probably where we got beat. We were ahead 18-13 and then we got into a period where we couldn't score," said Garner. "We should have been up at halftime. Instead we're down 11 because of our turnovers mainly."

The Indians got within seven points three times over the first eight-plus minutes of the second half, the last time on Monte Gordon's 3-point play that made it 52-45 with 11:40 remaining.

But the Leathernecks then went on a 15-3 run to open up their biggest lead of the night at 67-48.

Southeast twice pulled to within six points, the last time on DeMond's three-point play with less than 15 seconds left.