A driving lay-up by senior guard John Steppe with 37.2 seconds remaining lifted the McKendree Bearcats to a 73-70 victory over McMurray on Saturday night in Lebanon.

Steppe's game-winning basket capped a 21-point, 11-rebound performance that enabled the Bearcats (5-3) to notch their fifth consecutive victory. Steppe netted 17 of his points in the second half.

Junior guard Clinton Happe (Evansville, Ind./F.J. Reitz) added 18 points, including a pair of free throws with 8.8 seconds to play that sealed the win for McKendree. Sophomore guard Mike DiGregorio chipped in with 16 points for the Bearcats.

MacMurray (4-4) led by as many as nine points in the second half, building a 47-38 advantage with 14:34 remaining.

Spencer Pratt, Brady Slagle and Luke Bishop each had 13 points for MacMurray.

W. Illinois 55, SIUE 38

In Macomb, Adam Link scored 14 points to help Western Illinois beat Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.

Link was 6 of 10 from the field. Don McAvoy III had 11 points, and Terell Parks had 11 points and nine rebounds for the Leathernecks (7-3).

Western Illinois led 34-18 at halftime and had 23 points off turnovers. The Leathernecks shot 43.8 percent from the field for the game, while the Cougars shot 32.6 percent and had 19 turnovers.

Michael Messer had nine points to lead the Cougars (2-5). Jerome Jones had seven points and nine rebounds.

LU-Belleville 134, Indiana Dabney 73

In Belleville, the Lynx set a school single-game scoring record when it defeated visiting Indiana Dabney.

Todd Starks scored 24 points and Deon Miner had 20 to lead the Lynx (12-3). Justin Tornoux had 16 points, while Larry Nussbaum (15), Brian Byrd (13), Lawson Warren (11), Steve Roper (10) and John Krodinger (10) also reached double figures.

Nussbaum had 13 rebounds to pick up a double-double. Byrd and Roper also recorded double-doubles with 10 rebounds apiece.

Indiana Dabney fell to 0-8.

Lindenwood-Belleville used a 16-0 run in the opening minutes to take control. The Lynx led 68-35 at halftime.

Women's basketball

SIUE 61, IPFW 54

In Edwardsville,Raven Berry recorded her second double-double against Indiana-Purdue-Fort Worth and third of the season as SIUE downed the Mastodons at the Vadalabene Center.

Berry led SIUE women's basketball with 14 points and 14 rebounds. Teammate Tierny Austin and CoCo Moore added 16 and 15 points, respectively. Moore was one rebound shy of her first double-double.

It was the second time this season that the Cougars (6-4) have defeated the Mastodons (3-6). SIUE downed IPFW 74-67 in their season opener in Fort Wayne, Ind.

The Cougars held strong by going to the basket and drawing fouls. Berry drained 10 of her 13 free throws while Moore was seven of eight. As a team, SIUE was 22 of 29 from the charity stripe.