By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

MACOMB, Ill. — Chad Boudreau was going to get drenched.

First win as a head coach over an NCAA Division I team? Yeah, the water was going to flow.

“We got him in the locker room,” guard James Dent Jr., said.

“Oh yeah, we got him,” forward Jesiah West said.

Boudreau, in his first season as Western Illinois’ men’s basketball coach, didn’t mind.

“I did have to change my shirt, though,” Boudreau said, laughing.

The Leathernecks’ 88-80 overtime win over Southern on Friday night at Western Hall was one of those November victories that can sometimes produce a bigger reward later in the season, somewhere in the crucible of conference play.

“We’re still in the building process,” West said, “and we’re getting better.”

The Leathernecks (2-2) were turning the ball over, missing free throws, and had no perimeter shooting until all of the sudden they had all of those things when it mattered.

“We just stuck with it,” Boudreau said. “We talked about it before the game — it’s a boxing match. It’s going be body shots, head shots, body shots. I thought we did a good job of just sticking to it.”

November is about building rhythm, building momentum, and the Leathernecks had struggled to do that in the first two weeks. There was a 78-68 overtime loss at UTSA followed two days later by a 37-point loss at SMU. Even Western Illinois’ first win — a 94-59 victory over NAIA opponent St. Ambrose — wasn’t much to build on, Boudreau said.

This win, he said, was different.

“I’m more of a builder. I’m not trying to break people down,” Boudreau said. “When you win something like this, you build on it.”

Western Illinois trailed 64-57 with 4:48 left in the second half, went on a 9-0 run to take the lead, and then had to come up with a key stop in the final seconds to have a chance to force overtime. Dent did that with two free throws with one second left, then took over the overtime, scoring the Leathernecks’ first seven points.

“My teammates stayed on me,” said Dent, who scored a game-high 24 points, 19 in the second half and overtime. “The first half wasn’t a good half for me. But my teammates knew I would pick it up. They stayed with me all the way.”

Dent had delivered the game-tying 3-pointer to force overtime in the season opener against UTSA, a game in which the Leathernecks then scored just three points in the extra period.

“I say losses are lessons,” Dent said.

“The whole thing, that first game, we didn’t finish the game,” West said. “We didn’t play those extra minutes.”

Western Illinois made all three of its field-goal attempts in overtime, and went 9-of-10 in free throws.

“We just stayed together,” Dent said. “We didn’t let the moment get to us. We’d been there before.”

The Leathernecks committed 21 turnovers, but only seven in the second half and in overtime. They made just 13-of-24 free throws and were 5-of-16 in 3-pointers in the first 40 minutes.

“I’ve got a big life insurance policy, but I need a bigger one,” Boudreau said. “Turnovers, free throws…”

Ryan Myers had 20 points for the Leathernecks. Quinlan Bennett had 18, and Drew Cisse added 12.

Tai’Reon Joseph had 23 points for Southern (1-3), a team that is opening the season with eight consecutive road games but has a 14-point win over UNLV on its early resumé.

“It’s a good win against a really good team,” Boudreau said.

And with road games against Valparaiso, Illinois and Wisconsin coming up, Boudreau feels the Leathernecks finally have some momentum.

West, who was recruited by Boudreau out of Southeastern Community College, was glad he got to soak the coach.

“I want the best for him,” West said. “He deserves it. There’s more coming. It’s a building process, but we’re going to get it done.”

Photo: Western Illinois guard Quinlan Bennett (1) had 18 points in the Leathernecks’ win over Southern on Friday night. (Photo courtesy of the WIU Athletic Communications)