By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

MACOMB, Ill. — Sometimes there are games a team can’t afford to lose, even in November.

Western Illinois’ men’s basketball team had one of those on Saturday.

The Leathernecks didn’t lose.

Western Illinois rallied from a 10-point deficit in the final six minutes to defeat Central Arkansas 63-61 at Western Hall.

Ryan Myers’ two free throws in the closing 1.3 seconds provided the final margin, completing a victory the Leathernecks needed after Wednesday’s 87-73 home loss to Green Bay.

“We had to stay together,” said center Tay Knox, whose blocked shot was the final big defensive play for Western Illinois. “We had a tough loss in our first home game, but we came back, stayed with it in this game, and stayed together.”

“We would have been pretty low,” coach Chad Boudreau said. “Now you take this win, come back to work tomorrow, and keep working to get better, because we need to get better as a team.

The Leathernecks (2-2) closed the game with a 14-2 run, forcing seven turnovers in that stretch with a full-court press that Boudreau thought sparked his team on defense and on offense.

“We turned up the heat, the pressure on them caused some turnovers, and it just got our energy going,” Boudreau said. “It seemed to get us more relaxed, and we settled in.”

Central Arkansas (1-3) had controlled the Leathernecks for the entire game before getting unsettled by the pressure.

“We had to make their guards uncomfortable,” Myers said. “They were doing a good job of running their sets over there. Once the game got tight, we had to up the ante, up the tempo, and apply pressure to the guards. Fortunately, it helped.”

The Leathernecks tied the game at 59 on a Myers 3-pointer, then took the lead on Knox’s dunk with 2:19 to play. Central Arkansas tied the game at 61 on Michael Evbagharu’s putback 18 seconds later.

Western Illinois’ pressure defense was designed to funnel the Central Arkansas offense toward Knox, and it paid off in the final seconds.

The Bears, who were setting up for a final shot, got the ball to Brayden Fagbemi, who drove to the basket. Knox was waiting and swatted the shot back toward midcourt. Myers got the rebound and in the process was fouled with 1.3 seconds left.

“The game plan all week was to turn them down all to me, and force them to take tough shots,” Knox said. “At the end of the game, they came to me, and I had to do what I was supposed to do.”

“I just chased after it,” Myers said. “And then right when I got it, they fouled me.”

Myers missed the first free throw, but made the second. The inbounds full-court pass from Central Arkansas’ Cole McCormick didn’t touch anybody as it went out of bounds. Myers was fouled on the ensuing play, making the first free throw and intentionally missing the second. The Bears couldn’t get a shot off as the buzzer sounded.

Myers led Western Illinois with 18 points. Sean Smith scored 17.

Central Arkansas’ Layne Taylor led all scorers with 21 points.

“I knew going into the locker room after the game, win or lose, I was going to tell them that we have to get better,” Boudreau said. “We know we need to get better. There’s a lot of things we need to do. It’s the whole game we have to get better at.”

The Leathernecks started slowly last year, going 3-6 to open the season before finishing with a 21-win season.

“I don’t lean on this, but it is a new group,” Boudreau said. “We’re throwing a lot at them on the offensive end and the defensive end, and you’re taking guys that had different roles at different places. And it’s like a bag of marbles. You’re trying to see where everyone fits.”