Western Illinois men look for home cooking vs. St. Thomas
MACOMB — The Western Illinois men try for their first home win in Summit League play on Saturday when they host St. Thomas at 2 p.m.
The Leathernecks are 0-3 inside Western Hall against conference foes and are most recently coming off a pair of losses, 93-75 to South Dakota State last Saturday and 75-72 to South Dakota on Monday.
The Leathernecks are seeking revenge against the Tommies, who topped WIU 89-66 on New Year’s Day in St. Paul.
In that game, Western Illinois had a rough start shooting the ball and trailed 43-27 at half.
The Leathernecks trimmed the deficit to five, 49-44 but UST would again get hot and WIU would go cold.
The three-point arc was the story as St. Thomas would go 14-30 (46.7 percent) from three and Western would hit 4-18 (22.2 percent).
Western had a hard time slowing St. Thomas’ Anders Nelson, who scored 20 points.
It was a balanced attack for the Tommies as six different players scored in double figures.
Western had four players score in double digits with Tamell Pearson and Trenton Massner each finishing with 13.
St. Thomas shot 31-58 (53.4) from the field while the Leathernecks were 26-57 (45.6).
Western is 12-8 in the league and 3-5 overall, good for seventh while St. Thomas is one spot back, 2-5 in the conference and 8-11 overall.
The Tommies have struggled since their victory over Western Illinois, losing four straight.
Offensively, St. Thomas averages 77.4 points per game, good for fourth in the league while allowing 72.7, sixth in the Summit.
Teams shoot 48 percent against St. Thomas while the Tommies make 44.8 percent of their shots.
The Tommies lead the league in three-pointers made (247) and attempted (637) while shooting a second-best percentage of 38.8 percent.
UST averages 13 made threes per game.
Riley Miller leads UST in scoring, averaging 16.8 points per game. Nelson adds 16.1 to the cause.
After Saturday’s game, WIU is scheduled to host Kansas City on Monday at 6 p.m.
This article originally appeared on The McDonough County Voice: Western Illinois University men's basketball team looks for home win
