Box Score
Season Statistics
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -- Shawntes Gary scored a career-high 24 points to lead Western Michigan to its first road victory of the season, 72-63, over Bowling Green in front of 1,445 fans at Anderson Arena.
After the Falcons (10-9, 1-5 MAC) tied the score on a three-pointer with 3:36 remaining, 59-all, the Broncos (9-10, 4-2 MAC) closed the game on a 13-4 run to claim their first road win of the season and pull two games ahead of their nearest pursuer in the Mid-American Conference West Division.
WMU went on a 6-0 run when Gary hit a jumper and David Kool hit two free throws and scored on a layup. BGSU answered with a bucket, before Gary scored four straight and Kool added a free throw to put the Broncos up nine, 70-61, with 19 seconds remaining.
Bowling Green started out fast and went up by seven points, 11-4, less than six minutes into the game. Western Michigan pulled within three points twice, but BGSU hung on and eventually took its largest lead of the game, 30-22, with 2:53 to go in the half.
The Broncos started their comeback on the next possession as Gary scored on a jumper and then controlled the defensive rebound on the Falcons' next possession and started a fast break that resulted in a Derek Fracalossi three-pointer to pull WMU within three, 30-27. BGSU scored a couple of possessions later to go up five, but Gary tipped in his own miss and Michael Redell canned two free throws to put the Broncos down by only one, 32-31, at intermission.
Andre Ricks gave the Broncos their first lead of the game with 15:57 to go, 37-35, on a backdoor layup off a feed from Fracalossi. BGSU came back 90 seconds later to tie the game, before Kool connected from deep to put WMU up, 40-37, with 14:18 to play.
Bowling Green came back with a 10-2 run over the next 2:44 to go up five with 11:12 left in the game. The big turn came when Nate Miller was fouled by Andrew Hershberger and then the WMU bench was assessed a technical foul. BGSU made all four free throws to go up five.
WMU didn't wait long to answer as Joe Reitz found Gary for a three-pointer as part of a 7-0 run that gave the lead back to the Broncos, 49-47, with 8:25 to go. BGSU came back, but Fracalossi hit 2-of-3 free throws after being fouled on a three-pointer to give WMU its largest lead to that point, 58-53, with 4:19 to go before the closing run by the Broncos.
Redell added 15 points and five assists on 8-of-8 shooting at the foul line and Kool added 14 points, five rebounds and two steals. Reitz was held to just six point, but pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds. Gary did more than score as he also had six rebounds, two steals, one assist, one block and no turnovers.
WMU held BGSU to only 39.3% shooting in the second half after the Falcons connected on 13-of-24 shots in the first half (.542). The Broncos hit 10-of-20 shots in the second half and also went to the free throw line 23 times with 19 successful conversions. For the game, WMU shot 82.1% at the line (23-of-28).
Bowling Green was led by Erik Marschall with 19 points, 17 in the first half. WMU also held the conference's leading scorer, Martin Samarco, to only 12 points on 4-of-13 shooting and 1-of-6 from behind the arc. Samarco was averaging 21 points per game entering the game.
The Broncos return to the road on Saturday to take on MAC preseason favorite Akron at 4 p.m. in game that will be nationally televised on ESPN2.
QUOTES
WMU head coach Steve Hawkins
(On the game) “Fortunately for us we were able to make some plays down the stretch. I thought a big thing for us was we were able to limit our turnovers in the second half (3). We felt like if we got some good shots on goal we had a good chance to be successful and that in turn gets our defense organized and set.
“I thought our guys did an excellent job of hanging in their. We settled down after halftime and were able to drive the ball fairly well and started knocking down some shots. When our defense gets set and organized ... that gives us a fighting chance. We were able to get them to play halfcourt basketball in the second half.”
(On attacking the basket) “Shawntes is a guy who can get to the basket pretty well. Mike Redell gets to the basket pretty well. We had them in the bonus fairly well. We felt we could continue to drive the ball because that was working for us. Instead of just looking for Joe where their defense was surrounding around Joe, we felt like driving the ball would be a little better option for us.
“He started driving it and that in turn got him to the free throw line and that took the lid off the basket for us. With all the attention they were giving Joe, if we got the ball kicked back out and swung around ...we got them playing close-out basketball and that's when they're weak.”
(On winning on the road) “Any road win in conference play is massive. Any home loss is damaging. We got one here today and that's one we badly needed.”
WMU center Joe Reitz
(On the game) “I thought it was a huge win in a hard fought game. I thought our bench came in and did a great job. I thought that was kind of a key because I thought we wore them down a little bit toward the end and I think's that a tribute to the depth on this team.
“Dave played a great game. Shawntes seems like he is playing his best game every night now. We had some guys step up down the stretch and make really big plays. I thought it was just a great team win tonight.”
WMU guard David Kool
(On Shawntes Gary) “Shawnee's amazing, he does that every day. When he wants to get to the basket, he will. Nobody's going to stop him, but himself. He's one of the most unselfish players I've ever played with, also. He does it every day in practice. We expect to see it in the games. It's nothing new to us.”
(On playing efficiently) “I just don't like to force things. I just play the game and let it come to me. If I get shots, I'll get shots and it's my job to knock them down when I get them. If I get them, I get them. If I don't, I don't. All that matters is the final result.”
