BOX SCORE

ATHENS, Ohio -- Led behind the shooting of David Kool with 17 points followed by seniors Joe Reitz and Derek Fracalossi in double-digits, Western Michigan (13-10, 7-3 MAC) fell to Ohio (16-7, 7-3 MAC) in the final three minutes of play Saturday afternoon, 57-54, at the Convocation Center in Athens, Ohio in front of 6,884.

The Broncos led most of the game and were ahead by as many as eight points with 11:05 remaing in the second half, but found themselves ahead by only four points after Reitz connected 2-for-2 from behind the free-throw line with 4:04 remaining, 52-48.

After back-to-back jumpers from Bubba Walther and lead-scorer Leon Williams, the Bobcats tied that game with 3:00 remaining.  Williams would be brought to the line three seperate times in 1:07, shooting 5-for-6, but the Broncos were unable to connect from behind the three-point arc to tie the game in the final 12 seconds, 57-54.

Western Michigan and Ohio started off strong against one another trading baskets and switching leads three times within the first 6:15 of the game until a jumper from Donald Lawson brought the Broncos ahead by two with 13:16 remaining in the half.  The Brown and Gold held the lead for 7:49 until Walther connected on a shot from behind the arc to tie the score with 6:55 remaining.  But it wasn't for long that the Broncos regained the lead and held it for the remainer of the half after a jumper from Kool followed by five straight points from Fracalossi to bring Western Michigan ahead by seven points with 4:35 remaining, 23-16.

Ohio tried to close the gap trading baskets with the Broncos but after a three-pointer from Kool, the Broncos took their biggest lead of the game, 31- 23, with 1:18 remaining in the half.  The Bobcats responded and brought the score within five points before halftime, 33-28.

Both teams traded baskets to start off the second half, but it was the Ohio defense that held the Broncos to 22.7 percent shooting (5-for-22) along with only shooting 9.1 percent from behind the arc (1-for-11) in the second half.  Even though the Broncos were a percet 100 percent from behind the free-throw line (14-for-14), the Bobcats made it to the line 11 more times then the Brown and Gold shooting a 76.0 percent (19-for-25).

Behind Kool, Reitz added 12 points with nine rebounds followed by Fracalossi with 10 points.

Kool was a perfect 8-for-8 from the free-throw line adding to his total of 37 consecutive, only two behind WMU's school record set previously by himself.

Reitz enters third place in career rebounds at WMU with a total of 865.

Williams had a game-high 26 points and 15 rebounds and followed by Walther with 13 points.

Western Michigan heads home to University Arena to take on Miami Tuesday, Feb. 12 at 7 p.m.