BOX SCORE
CHARLESTON, S.C. -- David Kool led all scorers with 24 points and Shawntes Gary notched his third-career double-double with 14 points and a career-high 12 rebounds, but Hofstra defeated Western Michigan, 71-68, in overtime at the Charleston Classic. The Broncos (0-2) will play Southern Illinois-Edwardsville (0-2) at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday morning.
Kool hit a jumper off an assist from Michael Redell with 54 seconds remaining in regulation to give the Broncos a one-point edge, 59-58. The Broncos forced a missed jumper by Cornelius Vines on the next possession and Redell snagged the rebound. WMU worked the clock, but Kool missed a jumper in the lane and then Donald Lawson fouled Hofstra's (1-1) Dane Johnson on the rebound. Johnson made 1-of-2 with 13 seconds to go to even the score, 59-59.
The Broncos had no timeouts and Kool pushed the ball up the floor. He took a baseline jumper with four seconds remaining, but couldn't convert and the game went to overtime.
Hofstra scored first, but WMU evened the score on a jumper by Gary, 61-61, with 3:47 to play. The Broncos fouled on the next possession and Charles Jenkins hit two free throws to give Hofstra the lead for good, 63-61. Kool hit a long step-back jumper for two points with 1:04 remaining to cut the lead to one. 67-66, but WMU couldn't pull any closer.
The game featured a plethora of whistles with 62 combined fouls, 77 free throws and three players fouled out. The Pride converted 28-of-41, while the Broncos hit just 20-of-36.
The Bronco defense held Hofstra to just 28.6 percent shooting (20-70) and 3-of-20 from behind the arc. WMU hit just 34.9 percent (22-63) and 4-of-19 three-pointers.
The Pride also won the battle of the boards, 60-52, including 24 offensive rebounds. WMU was more efficient with a 27-16 edge in second-chance points.
Gary scored the first five points of the game and Derek Drews hit a jumper to give WMU a 7-0 lead. Freshman Mike Douglas hit two free throws with 13:24 to play in the half for his first collegiate points and a seven-point lead, 14-7. The Pride came back to pull within three, 17-14, but WMU went on a 9-1 run behind four points from freshman Flenard Whitfield and Drews had the exclamation point with a three-pointer, 26-15.
Hofstra then went on a run of their own with seven straight points, five at the free throw line, to pull within four, 26-22. The Pride eventually whittled the lead all the way to two, but Redell hit a long three before the horn to give WMU a five-point halftime advantage, 31-26.
The Pride came out strong and took their first lead, 34-33, less than three minutes in, but Kool hit a jumper to give the lead back to WMU. Hofstra regained the lead again before Kool canned a three to start a 7-0 run that put WMU back up six, 42-36, with 14:28 remaining. The lead was short-lived as less than one minute later Hofstra tied the score.
That was part of a larger 10-0 run that gave the Pride its largest lead of the game, 46-42, with 10:31 to go. WMU came back and scored five straight to regain the lead on Andre Ricks' three-pointer, 47-46, with 7:46 to play, but 19 seconds later Hofstra answered with a three, 49-47.
The game featured four more ties before Kool's jumper with 54 seconds to go put WMU on top.
Whitfield finished with 13 points and seven rebounds for WMU in just his second collegiate appearance.
Hofstra was led by Charles Jenkins with 19 points and 18 points from Tony Dennison. Johnson finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds and Arminas Urbutis collected 16 rebounds.
WMU plays Southern Illinois-Edwardsville at 10:30 a.m. Sunday in the seventh-place game of the Charleston Classic.
