SUNDAY'S SCORES
@Western Illinois 94, St. Ambrose 59
Chicago State 78,
@Southern Indiana 67
WESTERN ILLINOIS 94, ST. AMBROSE 59
MACOMB, Ill. - Western Illinois Men's Basketball played its first game in Western Hall in the 2023-24 season on Sunday afternoon. The Leathernecks led wire-to-wire as they took on the Fighting Bees of St. Ambrose, in a matchup that saw WIU pick up its first win of the year, in dominating fashion.
Western scored a season-high 94 points and five different players finished the game with double digit points, those players being James Dent Jr. (17 points), Ryan Myers (13 points), De'Meiko Anderson (11 points), Quinlan Bennett (10 points), and JJ Kalakon (10 points). Kalakon, a Senior in his second year at Western, tied his career high in scoring, and his two blocks and two steals also marked career highs the Senior from Louisville, Kentucky, as he helped lead the Leathernecks to a 94-59 victory. When asked about his stat-sheet stuffing performance, JJ said post-game that "That's what I bring to the table." JJ also spoke about the intensity of practice under Coach Boudreau and how it's helped prepare them, saying "Us older guys know what's at stake (in practice) and bringing the fire consistently, everyday, makes all of us better."
After the Bees tied the game at 5 three minutes in, the Leathernecks would take a 7-5 lead that they would never relinquish. James Dent Jr. came in after the first media break and immediately got two buckets. He would finish with five total made threes on the day, totaling 17 points. Western would enter halftime with a 41-21 lead, and kept their foot on the gas in the second half as they closed out a 35 point victory.
CHICAGO STATE 78, SOUTHERN INDIANA 67
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - University of Southern Indiana Men's Basketball won the second half, but lost the 2023-24 home opener to Chicago State University, 78-67, Sunday afternoon at Screaming Eagles Arena. The Screaming Eagles start the year 0-3, while Chicago State begins 2023-24, 1-2.
The Cougars took command of the game in the first half. Chicago State raced out to a 25-point margin, 41-16, before USI closed the difference to 19 in the final minute of the half. USI junior forward Jack Mielke (Downers Grove, Indiana) sank a pair of three-pointers from the left side to end the first 20 minutes with a 41-22 score.
In the second half, USI's offense gained momentum and with a 16-5 run cut the deficit to 10 points, 55-45, with 9:43 to play when junior guard Jeremiah Hernandez (Chicago, Illinois) dunked in his 10th and 11th points of the game and his seventh and eighth points of the run. The Cougars re-extended the lead back to 16, 65-49, before the Eagles could make another run at the end of the contest.
The final two minutes of the game saw USI cut the margin to seven points, 67-60, with an 11-2 run that was capped off by a dunk by Hernandez. Hernandez and sophomore guard/forward AJ Smith (Edwardsville, Illinois) led the Eagles during the run with five points each.
Time would run out on the Eagles as the Cougars pushed the difference back to double-digits, including a pair of 13 point leads in the final minutes. USI made one more run with a 5-0 sprint before Chicago State hit the final bucket in a 78-67 decision.
On the stat sheet, Smith led the Eagles with a career-best 21 points and 16 rebounds. The sophomore, who had 15 points in the second half, was six-of-14 from the field and nine-of-10 from the stripe. He also had eight rebounds in each half.
Hernandez followed USI in the scoring column with 18 points, scoring all 18 in the second half. Mielke rounded out the USI double-digit scorers with 10 points.