Box Score
Season Statistics
KALAMAZOO -- Seniors Brian Snider and Stane's Bufford combined for 31 points Saturday to lead Western Michigan (13-14, 10-6 MAC) over Central Michigan (4-21, 1-15 MAC) in front of 3,768 fans, the largest crowd of the year at University Arena.
Bufford led the Broncos with 17 points and pulled down seven rebounds. Snider chipped in 14 points while shooting 50 percent (7-of-14) and leading the Broncos with three steals.
WMU was down by 10, 25-15, at the 6:15 mark of the first half, but was able to answer with a 16-6 run to close the half and head into the locker room tied, 31-31.
The Broncos broke the tie with a pair of free-throws by Bufford 33 seconds into the half to give WMU a lead it would never relinquish.
Free throws played a pivotal part in the Bronco victory as they were 22-of-33 in the game and 19-of-27 in the second half. Those second half free throws proved critical, especially after Derek Drews gave the Broncos an 12-point lead, 45-33, on his second three-pointer of the game with 14:25 remaining. WMU didn't hit another field goal until Snider made a jump shot that gave the Broncos an 11-point lead, 55-44. The Broncos hit eight of nine free-throws during that stretch to keep their double-digit lead.
“I did feel like we played a lot better in the middle 20 minutes and played some pretty decent basketball,” head coach Steve Hawkins said. “That enabled us to come from behind where we felt fortunate to go into halftime tied. Then in the second half we played well for the first 10-12 minutes to build the lead.”
CMU's freshman forward Chris Kellerman lead all scorers at halftime with 14 points, but was shut down in the second half and held scoreless before fouling out with :55.9 remaining in the second half. Sophomore Giordan Watson led all scorers with 19 points, but also turned the ball over eight times. As a team, the Chippewas turned the ball over 27 times, leading to 31 Bronco points.
Joe Reitz also finished in double figures for the Broncos with 12 points, six rebounds and a career-high tying three assists. Andrew Hershberger added seven points and a game-high eight rebounds.
The win gave WMU a combined record of 5-0 against CMU in football, men's, and women's basketball.
Western Michigan heads to Toledo for a match up with MAC West pre-season favorite Rockets. Tipoff is at 7 p.m.
