Recap: Western Ill vs. IUPU-Ft Wayne

Macomb, IL (Sports Network) - Jack Houpt and Adam Link both contributed 16 points for Western Illinois as the Leathernecks kept their perfect Summit League intact by defeating IUPU-Fort Wayne, 62-50, at Western Hall.

Houpt did the majority of his scoring from beyond the arc, where he went 4- of-5, and Link converted 8-of-11 attempts at the charity stripe for Western Illinois (10-3, 4-0 Summit) as it picked up its seventh win in a row. Ceola Clark scored 14 points and dished out six assists while Terell Parks made an impact on the glass by pulling down 10 rebounds.

Luis Jacobo paced IPFW (6-9, 0-2) with 19 points. Joe Edwards chipped in 10 points off the bench, but the Mastodons struggled as Frank Gaines, who entered the contest averaging 19.8 points per game, was held to eight points on 2- of-13 shooting from the field. IPFW has now lost six consecutive away games.

It did not take long for the Leathernecks to take control. Clark made a jumper to give the hosts a 20-10 lead at the 8:44 mark of the first half before Western Illinois took a 31-19 advantage into the intermission. IPFW was ice cold to start the contest and made just 6-of-22 attempts from the field in the opening 20 minutes. The Leathernecks shot 54.2 percent from the floor in the first period.

Although the Mastodons improved after the break to convert 34.3 percent of their field goal attempts, Western Illinois protected its lead by draining 16- of-21 at the charity stripe in the second half.

IPFW made only 10-of-23 attempts at the free throw line in the game while the Leathernecks enjoyed a 39-31 edge in the rebounding battle.