BOX SCORE
QUOTES
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -- David Kool scored 14 points and Shawntes Gary added 11 points, but Bowling Green ended a nine-game losing streak against Western Michigan, 68-61, in front of 1,865 at Anderson Arena Wednesday night.
The Falcons (12-9, 5-3) outrebounded the Broncos, 43-34, including 17 offensive rebounds that led to a 16-2 advantage in second-chance points. The Broncos (7-14, 4-4 MAC) actually held BGSU to 38.6 percent shooting (22-57), but couldn't overcome the extra possessions off the offensive glass and at the free throw line. WMU hit just 11-of-19 (.579), while the Falcons hit 20-of-26 (.769).
Despite all of that, WMU was still within four, 61-57, after an old-fashioned three-point play by Kool with 2:42 remaining. The Broncos then forced a missed three-pointer by Darryl Clements, but Nate Miller corralled the offensive board and was fouled. He missed the front end of the one-and-one, but Otis Polk reached that offensive rebound. He was fouled and connected on both freebies to put BGSU back up six with 1:34 to play.
The Broncos scored with 44 seconds left on a layup by Flenard Whitfield to close within five, 64-59, but that was as close as they would get the rest of the way.
The Broncos held a pair of early leads, 3-2 and 6-4, after three-pointers by Derek Drews and Gary, but a seven-point run by the Falcons put them up six, 16-10, with 14:59 to play after a tip dunk by Chris Knight. Martelle McLemore and Andre Ricks hit trifectas on back-to-back possessions to even the score, but Bowling Green answered with an 11-1 run to go up 10, 27-17, with 4:54 to play in the half.
Demetrius Ward hit a jumper in the paint and Kool made his only three-pointer of the night to pull WMU to within five, 27-22, with 4:02 to play and Michael Redell hit an acrobatic layup to keep the deficit at five, 29-24, with 3:08 remaining. Bowling Green responded with a 6-2 run to end the half up nine, 35-26.
The Broncos came out of the locker room on a 7-2 run behind a fast break layup from Redell, a layup from Gary off a feed from Redell and McLemore three-pointer that bounced multiple times on the rim before falling through to cut the lead to four, 37-33, and force BGSU to call timeout. Joe Jakubowski hit a three-pointer out of the timeout to put the Falcons back up seven and eventually the lead ballooned to 12, 53-41, with 11:19 to go in the game.
The Broncos were still down 11, 59-48, with 6:02 to play before Kool hit a layup and Gary canned a three-pointer to start their late game spurt.
Kool added five rebounds and three assists, while Gary reached a team-high six rebounds. Redell added eight points, four rebounds, three assists, one steal and no turnovers and Ward came off the bench to add seven points, four rebounds and two assists.
The Broncos shot 38.9 percent (21-54), but hit 8-of-19 three-pointers. The Broncos also only turned the ball over 13 times, including a meager four in the second half.
The Falcons were led by Miller with 23 points and 13 rebounds, Polk with 16 points and nine rebounds and Brian Moten with 11 points.
The Broncos remain on the road with a trip to Akron (14-8, 5-3 MAC) on Sunday at 2 p.m.
