Box Score
Season Statistics
KALAMAZOO -- Joe Reitz led Western Michigan with 14 points and six rebounds, but Northern Illinois proved to be too much for the Broncos in a 74-59 win in front of 4,108 people at University Arena.
The win gives the Huskies (17-10, 12-6 MAC) their first ever Mid-American Conference West Division championship, while the Broncos (13-16, 10-8 MAC) finish the regular season in a tie for second in the MAC West. The win also gave NIU the No. 2 seed in the MAC Tournament in Cleveland. WMU is the No. 6 seed and will host No. 11 Eastern Michigan Monday night in the first round of the tournament.
The Huskies took control of the game early, using an 8-0 run to take an eight-point lead, 13-5, less than five minutes into the game. Northern Illinois maintained control and eventually built the lead to 12, 26-14, with 8:12 remaining in the first half.
Western Michigan countered with an immediate 7-0 run to pull back within five points, but as they did throughout the game Northern Illinois received an old-fashioned three-point play from Todd Peterson to push the lead back to eight. WMU cut the lead to five again with only 1:22 left in the half, but could pull no closer before Peterson buried a three-pointer with eight seconds remaining in the half to give the Huskies their 35-27 halftime lead.
Northern Illinois started the second half with the first six points to push the lead to 14 points. Moments later Western Michigan cut the lead to nine before NIU rattled off six consecutive points to take a 15-point lead, 47-32, with 14:54 remaining.
The Broncos tried to make one last run by scoring six straight points over 2:32 to pull within eight, 54-46, with 7:01 to play. Northern Illinois called a timeout after Andrew Hershberger's jumper pulled Western Michigan to within single digits. Northern Illinois turned the ball over out of the timeout, but WMU had a turnover of its own on the other end.
On the following possession, the Broncos forced a missed three-pointer, but couldn't control the defensive rebound allowing NIU to shoot, miss and rebound another three-pointer. Mike McKinney finally ended the possession by hitting a turnaround jumper in the paint to push the lead back to 10.
The Broncos cut the deficit to nine points on each of their next two possessions, but the Huskies answered each time in the midst of a 13-3 run to push the lead to 18, 67-49, with 3:33 to go in the game.
Hershberger added 12 points and four rebounds for the Broncos. On "Senior Day," Brian Snider finished with five points, five assists, three rebounds and two steals while Stane's Bufford scored seven points and pulled down four rebounds.
Peterson had his first double-double of the season with 24 points and a career-high 15 rebounds for the Huskies while Anthony Maestranzi added 20 points of his own.
The Broncos are back in action Monday night against Eastern Michigan in the first round of the MAC Tournament at 7 p.m. in University Arena. Tickets are on sale now by calling 1-888-4-WMU-TIX or ordering online at www.wmubroncos.com.
