– The Western Illinois men's basketball team scored on the very first possession and never relinquished its advantage – despite late heroics -- in an 86-80 victory over Denver Saturday afternoon (Jan. 11).One point separated the two in the final minute."The leadership, the guys who've played a lot of basketball, when it was winning time, they made plays down the stretch. It's not always easy. You're up 15, 20 points, and Denver does a good job of coming back to fight," said head coach. "They have a lot of talent on their team, so credit our guys."traveled coast to coast for a steal and score (7:31) to lift Western to its first double-digit lead of the afternoon. And at one point, the team's advantage swelled to 20, before settling on a 50-35 score at halftime.Western shot 57.1 percent from the floor (16-for-28) in the opening period, with three pouring in double-digit points, but more importantly, the team was able to keep ½ of Denver's scoring tandem in check.Two Pioneers are averaging 10-plus a night, and while Jase Townsend held 10 at the break, Ade Murkey recorded just two.There are no easy wins in the Summit League, and the Pioneers proved just that at the start of the second. Closing the deficit to 55-52, the visitors outscored their counterpart, 17-5, in the first five minutes, and when it looked like they were on their way to a lead,dropped a 3-pointer.If there was any sign as to how the frame was going for WIU, the basket hit the front lip of the rim and popped in the air before falling through; it led to an 11-3 run, where nine points came from beyond the arc, but an aggressive Denver squad wouldn't stay at bay."They started making shots, and they got to the free-throw line," Wright added. "Anytime you want to get back into a game when you're down, you score when the clock is stopped, and that's one thing they were able to do."It was Townsend who pulled the score to 79-78 with 53 seconds left, but Pyle closed the door on the next possession with a trey of his own."This was just another example of guys moving the ball and making the right basketball decision. We want to play free, we want to flow, and play with pace and space, and this was an example of the ball moving and the right guy making the right decision."Pyle matched his career-high with 21 points.andeach added 17, andrecorded 12.The Leathernecks closes out their three-game homestand with Oral Roberts next Thursday at 7 p.m. In partnership with the WIU Multicultural Center, MLK Game Night will honor the remembrance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.