MIDLAND, Mich. – With an 84-71 loss to in-state rival Central Michigan on Saturday afternoon, Western Michigan men's basketball secured the No.6 seed in the 2018 Mid-American Conference tournament and will host No.11 seed Akron on Monday, March 5 inside University Arena.

Tipoff is set for approximately 7:45 p.m. on Monday against the Zips inside University Arena. The Western Michigan women's basketball team will host its first round game of the MAC Tournament on Monday as well, beginning at 5:30 p.m.

A moment that will go down in program history happened at the 5:18 mark of the first half as senior Thomas Wilder became the second player in school history to score 2,000 career points. Wilder ranks second all-time in scoring at WMU with 2,018 points.  

Wilder led the Broncos with 22 points on 9-of-18 shooting from the field while also collecting nine rebounds and three assists. Wilder scored 18 of his team-high 22 points in the second half, shooting 53 percent the final 20 minutes of play.

Second on the team in scoring was junior Seth Dugan who recorded 16 points and eight rebounds off the bench against the Chippewas. Dugan played 27 minutes and was 5-of-8 from the field and 6-of-9 from the free-throw line.

Sophomore Reggie Jones rounded out the double digit scoring for the Broncos with 14 points on 5-of-15 shooting from the field. Jones corralled three rebounds along with one assist, two blocks and four steals.

Western Michigan shot 42.9 percent from the field compared to CMU's 49 percent but knocked down just five three-pointers on the afternoon. The Chippewas recorded 12 three-pointers including seven in the first half.

The Broncos forced CMU to commit 15 turnovers, scoring 17 points off those turnovers. CMU's Shawn Roundtree led all scorers with 27 points to go along with seven rebounds and five assists.

Inside Riepma Arena on the campus of Northwood University, neither team got off to a fast start as the game was tied at 5-5 through the first five minutes of play. Junior Josh Davis gave the Broncos their only lead of the contest at the 14-minute mark, swiping a pass and going coast-to-coast for the wide-open lay-up.

WMU led by as many as four in the first half before Central Michigan tied the game up at 17-17 with seven minutes remaining. Down the stretch in the first half the CMU offense caught fire embarking on a 15-2 run the final three minutes of play to take a 38-27 lead into halftime.

Midway through the second half the Broncos cut the CMU lead to single digits after going on a 9-2 run with Wilder scoring four of the nine points. However, the Chippewas countered with back-to-back three-pointers to extend their lead back to double digits.

During the final five minutes of play the closest the Broncos got was 10 before the Chippewas pulled away late for an 84-71 victory.