Box Score

Overall Statistics

KALAMAZOO, Mich. ? A year ago Ball State came into University Arena and snapped Western Michigan's 25-game home winning streak.  The Broncos exacted a little revenge on the Cardinals, stopping their two-game winning streak with a 68-59 victory at home on Thursday.

WMU (7-11, 4-4 MAC) overcame an eight-point first half deficit to take a 31-29 lead at the break.  Ball State (6-10, 2-6 MAC) scored 21 points during the first six minutes and 50 seconds but could only muster three points over the next eight minutes, 15 seconds.  During that span, the Broncos chipped away at the BSU lead.

Joe Reitz, who registered his eighth career double-double with 20 points and 10 boards, dropped in a pair of layups to pull his team to within six, 23-17.  Stane's Bufford knocked down a pair of free throws and scored a layup to bring WMU to within two, 23-21.  Bufford joined Reitz and two other Broncos in double figures with 10 points.  It was the third time this season a quartet from the WMU hoops team has scored in double figures in the same game.  The first came against Detroit (Dec. 3) and the last was against Colorado State (Dec. 20).

Dan Hess gave the Broncos their first lead, 25-24, at the 4:45 mark on a layup.  The lead changed hands 24 seconds later on a Skip Mills jumper, 26-25.  Andrew Hershberger, who finished with 12 points, tied the score at 28 with a three-pointer and Derek Fracalossi sent the Broncos into the locker room with a two-point advantage.

The Cardinals came out of the break with the hot hand, scoring the frame's first six points to take a 35-31 lead.  WMU battled back to take a 40-37 lead on a Derek Drews three-pointer.  Drews would finish the night with a career-high 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the field, 4-of-5 from beyond the arc.

Ball State's Maurice Acker, the team's leading scorer with 15 points, tied the score for the fifth time with a pair of free throws, but Bufford changed the lead into Western Michigan's favor for the fifth and final time with a jumper at the 6:36 mark.

The Cardinals climbed back to within one, 54-53, on a Jalon Perryman trey, but the Broncos answered, scoring the games next seven points to take a 61-53 lead on a Reitz free throw with 1:51 remaining.

"It was another MAC basketball game where it went into the last four minutes and it was anybody's game. I'm so proud of the kids and I'm so happy for the kids because we've been in the locker room on the other side of things where we lost in the last eight, 10 minutes," head coach Steve Hawkins said. "That's no fun, but we've learned from it. Down the stretch I was really proud of the way we played offense."

"I was really happy that in the last four, five minutes of the game we really stepped up and made plays down the stretch and pulled out a big victory here at home," Reitz said.

Defensively, the Broncos held Ball State to 41.4 percent shooting and held leading scorer Skip Mills to nine points, nine less than his 18.7 average. The Broncos are now 15-0 when holding an opponent to 59 points or less under Steve Hawkins.

Riding a three-game winning streak, Western Michigan plays a Sunday matinee on Jan. 29 when the Broncos travel to Central Michigan to take on the Chippewas in Rose Arena at 3 p.m.  The game can be heard live on WFAT - 96.5 FM, the Bronco Radio Network. The game will also be televised on Comcast Local.