By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

MACOMB, Ill. — Danny Stephens got to play 26 minutes in Western Illinois’ 84-44 loss to UT-Martin on Saturday.

That’s a big deal for a player who came to the Leathernecks having not seen any game action for two seasons.

The playing time, even in a defeat like this one, is “very important,” Stephens said.

“I mean, I haven’t played a game the last two years, and then even my senior season (of high school) got cut short,” Stephens said. “You can’t replicate these game reps in practice. I’ve had a lot of practices, but these games, it’s really important for me to get out there and just keep getting better every day, because that’s all I can ask for.

“And I’m getting better each game.”

It was the 12th consecutive loss for the Leathernecks (4-19 overall, 0-12 Ohio Valley Conference), so any positive at this point is a good thing for the team. Getting that kind of playing time out of Stephens, who had six points, five rebounds and two assists, qualifies as a positive.

“We’ve talked about how we’re building him up,” coach Chad Boudreau said. “I wanted him at 25 (minutes) tonight, and so now he can keep playing more minutes. We’ve worked him up to get him to the point where, in my head, he would get to 25 tonight.

Boudreau smiled at Stephens, who was standing in the room.

“He ain’t getting any younger, so we’ve got to get him going,” Boudreau said, and Stephens laughed.

There were plenty of expectations on Stephens, who grew up in nearby Bowen, Illinois, when he transferred to Western Illinois in the offseason. The 6-5 forward was the all-time leading scorer at Southeastern High School, finishing his career with 2,428 points. He averaged 26.4 points and 9.1 rebounds in his career, and was a first-team all-state selections.

Stephens didn’t play in two seasons as a walk-on at Missouri. He redshirted his first season, and sat out last season with an injury.

And he’s even dealt with injuries since joining the Leathernecks — an ankle injury that delayed the start of his season, and then, after he played in two games in December, he suffered a back injury that kept him out of game action for another month.

“I’m happy to be healthy, very thankful,” Stephens said. “and I’m thankful for the injuries I had, because it did teach me a lot, and it’s helped me grow. But now it’s just getting everything caught back up.”

Stephens said he still feels rusty. He was just 2 of 8 from the field, 1 of 6 in 3-pointers, in Saturday’s game.

“I had two turnovers (in Thursday’s loss to Southeast Missouri State) when I had an illegal screen and a push-off,” Stephens said. “And then I had a turnover tonight, where I just kind of jumped and threw it. As a player in high school, that wasn’t really something I did. So it’s just a matter of getting back to not being rushed, getting back with the speed of the game.

“Everything will come back. I’m not worried about it.”

The loss was the Leathernecks’ lowest offensive output of the season. Lucas Lorenzen led Western Illinois with eight points. Goanar Biliew and Francis Okwuosah joined Stephens with six points.

UT-Martin (17-5, 9-2), which leads the OVC by one game, shot 51.7% from the field, 60.7% in the second half. Filip Petkovski led four Skyhawks in double figures with 17 points.

“Those guys know how to play basketball,” Boudreau said. “They share the ball to get the ball inside. They make extra passes. It’s not like any of them are elite athletes. They’re just elite minds and they’re doing a good job.”

Boudreau, still searching for answers on how to break the skid, expects more minutes for Stephens when the Leathernecks go on the road for Thursday’s game at Tennessee Tech and next Saturday’s game at Tennessee State.

That’s fine with Stephens, who has learned plenty this season even with the limited opportunities.

“There’s a very fine line between winning and losing and being average and great, because you look at the course of many of our games where with two different possessions, it’s a different outcome,” he said. “We win the game. And it takes every single possession, every single day. You just have got to come in and give it your best, because for 40 minutes, you have to play a 40-minute game to win. You can’t play 30, you can’t play 35, you can’t even play 38 minutes. You have to play well in all of them.”