BOX SCORE
SEASON STATS
KENT, Ohio -- David Kool scored a game-high 21 points, but Kent State overcame a 10-point second half deficit to defeat Western Michigan, 67-58, in front of 3,674 at the M.A.C. Center on Sunday afternoon.
The Broncos (10-9, 4-2 MAC) took a 10-point lead, 48-38, on Derek Drews' three-pointer with 13:48 remaining in the second half, but then went cold. The Golden Flashes (16-4, 5-1 MAC) scored the next six points, but Joe Reitz stopped the run with a layup with 9:21 remaining to keep the Broncos up six, 50-44.
That would be the last points for the next 7:01 as Kent State used a 13-0 to build a seven-point lead. During that stretch, WMU went 0-for-7 from the field, committed six turnovers and missed three straight free throws before Reitz ended the drought with 2:20 to go and WMU down six, 57-51.
The Broncos eventually got the deficit back down to only one possession, 61-58, with 44 seconds to go, but didn't score the rest of the way as the Golden Flashes escaped with the win.
Kent State scored the first point of the game, but Western Michigan answered with 10 straight points with six from Reitz and four by Shawntes Gary. Kool then knocked down the first of his five three-pointers with 13:35 to go to give the Broncos an early double-digit advantage, 13-3.
The Golden Flashes came back and cut their deficit to two, 15-13, with 8:14 to go, but Kool responded with four straight to push the lead back to six, 19-13, with 7:16 remaining in the half before back-to-back KSU three-pointers evened the game, 19-all, with 6:06 on the clock.
Kool hit another three-pointer to put Western Michigan up four, 25-21, with 5:11 left, but Kent State scored five points to takes its first lead, 26-25, since 1-0. Gary hit a three-pointer on the next possession and then stole the ball and went coast-to-coast to put the Broncos back up by four, 30-26, with 3:29 remaining.
Kent State closed the gap to one, before Kool hit a jumper in the paint to put WMU up three, 34-31, at halftime. Kool then opened the second half with a three-pointer 16 seconds in followed by a Reitz layup to quickly put WMU up eight, 39-31.
Drews' three-pointer capped off a 4-for-4 start from behind the arc to open the half. WMU didn't hit another three-pointer until 1:50 remainined on the clock, missing five straight.
The Broncos shot 36.5 percent overall (19-52) and 37.5 percent from deep (9-24), while hitting 11-of-15 free throws. Kent State hit 41.7 percent (20-48), but just 4-of-16 three-pointers. KSU made up for that with 23-of-29 free throw shooting.
WMU outrebounded KSU, 34-32, and had three more offensive rebounds, 11-8, but the Golden Flashes did a better job of converting to lead 11-5 in second-chance points.
Kent State also outscored WMU, 20-7, in points off turnovers as WMU had 16 to only 11 for KSU.
Gary joined Kool in double figures with 14 points and a game-high eight rebounds and Reitz scored 13 points with seven rebounds.
Al Fisher led Kent State with 17 points with Mike Scott and Rodriquez Sherman adding 13 and 12 points each.
The Broncos remain on the road to play Buffalo (6-12, 0-6 MAC) on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
