IW basketball edged on the road

MACOMB, Ill. — Iowa Wesleyan men’s basketball has been on a roll as of late.

Since losing their second game of the season, the Tigers had won 10 straight.

On Wednesday, they looked to make it 11 straight with a matchup against the Western Illinois Leathernecks.

After a tightly contest battle, the Tigers came up just short 84-73.

Iowa Wesleyan couldn’t have asked for a better start against Western Illinois.

The Tigers jumped out to a 10-2 lead against the Leathernecks with five points coming from Gacoby Evans, three from Allante Pickens and two from Victor Munoz.

Western Illinois began to claw back cutting the lead to 12-8, but a layup by Pickens and a free throw from Henry Shannon pushed the lead to 15-8.

Iowa Wesleyan continued to hang on, but the Leathernecks made a run.

With the Tigers leading 20-11, Western Illinois put together an efficient offensive run scoring 10 unanswered to grab a hold of the lead, 21-20.

A Dylan Hurley three gave the Tigers back the lead just over 30 seconds later, but the Leathernecks would hang around.

The two squads would tie six times in the final six minutes at 26-26, 28-28, 30-30, 34-34, 36-36 and 38-38.

With 45 seconds left in the first half, the Leathernecks held a 38-36 lead, but the Tigers Hakeem Odunsi hit a layup with 18 seconds left to tie the game at 38 heading into halftime.

Coming out of the locker room, the Tigers would score first with Joey Brown connecting on a three ball to give the Tigers the lead, 41-38.

After a pair of baskets by the Leathernecks and a three ball from Evans, Western Illinois would retake the lead with a three ball of its own.

They would never loose it.

The Leathernecks three pointer marked the beginning of a 12-0 run giving Western Illinois their largest lead of the game, 52-44.

With 11:42 to go in the game, the Tigers were able to cut the lead to four at 57-53, but that’s as close as they would come as the Leathernecks had an answer for every Tiger run.

At the 7:28 mark, the Tigers found themselves down 68-58, but the Leathernecks would put together a 11-3 run over the next three minutes, making it a 79-61 game.

Iowa Wesleyan did not wavier though, scoring seven straight, cutting the lead to 11, 79-68, with 3:37 on the clock.

However, the Tigers could not complete the comeback as they wouldn’t score again for over two minutes.

Joey Brown led the Tigers with 18 points in the loss. Allante Pickens added 17 points. Gacoby Evans finished with 13.

The Tigers shot 38 percent from the field in the contest, 45.45 percent in the first half and 31.58 percent in the second.

From three, the Tigers ended with a percentage of 30.6 in the game.

Iowa Wesleyan will be back in action on Tuesday, Dec. 13 on the road against Saint Ambrose University.