By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

MACOMB, Ill. — Western Illinois didn’t have time to dwell on its worst loss of the season.

Which was fine with the Leathernecks.

Thursday’s 73-46 win over Monmouth College at Western Hall was a good bounce-back from Tuesday’s 26-point defeat at Northern Iowa, but there is still work to be done for the Leathernecks.

“I’m so singularly focused on us getting better right now,” said coach Chad Boudreau, who picked up his 100th career victory. “We know we’re not there yet. It’s a puzzle. There’s pieces, but how do they all fit?”

Boudreau knows what he has in guards Ryan Myers and Sean Smith, but for the Leathernecks (3-3) to be successful in Ohio Valley Conference play, there has to be others to contribute.

He has seen that this week in Trey Deveaux and Marko Maletic, who each had 15 points against Northern Iowa. Maletic followed that with 14 points in this game, while Deveaux had eight.

The Leathernecks also got 11 points and eight rebounds from Julius Rollins and nine points and nine rebounds from Kayden Carter.

“We got a lot of confidence up from this game, with some people getting the rhythm of their shot back,” Carter said.

“It’s extremely important for us to get that,” Rollins said. “We are trying to do something special here. We’re trying to leave our mark at Western.”

Boudreau said he took some positives away from the 82-56 loss at UNI. 

“I think we’re getting better,” Boudreau said. “The reason we were in that UNI game for the first 16 minutes was we were doing a good job defensively and offensively. We were taking care of the ball, but when we started turning the ball over, our offense was hurting our defense, because we were committing live-ball turnovers and they were getting quick, easy baskets. And then we started pressing defensively.”

That’s why the Leathernecks had to take control of this game against the Fighting Scots, an NCAA Division III team. Western Illinois led 30-14 at halftime, and led by as much as 29 points in the second half.

“The game today was about us executing us, sticking to our game plan,” Carter said.

“I think we did that more in the second half,” Rollins said. “In the first couple of minutes, we started slow, and that’s something we have to keep working at, coming out with a lot of energy.”

Myers led the Leathernecks with 19 points, all in the second half.

“Ryan’s been under the weather,” Boudreau said. “Ideally, we wouldn’t have played him in a game like this, but with our guard situation, we needed him out there. Early on, I wanted him to help establish some other guys, and I thought he did that.”

The Leathernecks are off until next Tuesday, when they play at South Alabama in a multi-team event that also includes a Wednesday game against Incarnate Word.

“I’m glad to get out of this one healthy, and then we’ll move on to the next one,” Boudreau said.

Photo: Western Illinois’ Julius Rollins heads up court after coming down with a rebound in Thursday’s game. (Photo courtesy of WIU Athletic Communications)