Little Rock plays Western Illinois following Beljan's 22-point game
Little Rock Trojans (11-7, 5-2 OVC) at Western Illinois Leathernecks (8-11, 2-6 OVC)
Macomb, Illinois; Thursday, 8:30 p.m. EST
BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Trojans -5.5; over/under is 130.5
BOTTOM LINE: Little Rock faces Western Illinois after Ante Beljan scored 22 points in Little Rock's 77-71 victory over the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles.
The Leathernecks are 5-3 in home games. Western Illinois is 3-6 against opponents with a winning record.
The Trojans are 5-2 against OVC opponents. Little Rock ranks ninth in the OVC scoring 29.3 points per game in the paint led by Beljan averaging 6.4.
Western Illinois makes 43.7% of its shots from the field this season, which is 6.0 percentage points higher than Little Rock has allowed to its opponents (37.7%). Little Rock averages 68.9 points per game, 1.0 fewer than the 69.9 Western Illinois allows.
The Leathernecks and Trojans face off Thursday for the first time in OVC play this season.
TOP PERFORMERS: Marko Maletic is averaging 16.8 points for the Leathernecks. Sean Smith is averaging 12.5 points, 5.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.5 steals over the last 10 games.
Johnathan Lawson is scoring 15.4 points per game with 6.0 rebounds and 3.7 assists for the Trojans. Mwani Wilkinson is averaging 13.7 points and 7.4 rebounds while shooting 40.0% over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Leathernecks: 3-7, averaging 68.7 points, 31.0 rebounds, 10.1 assists, 7.0 steals and 3.7 blocks per game while shooting 43.0% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 70.7 points per game.
Trojans: 7-3, averaging 69.6 points, 34.6 rebounds, 14.5 assists, 8.9 steals and 6.2 blocks per game while shooting 45.0% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 65.7 points.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.