BOX SCORE
QUOTES
CLEVELAND -- The Western Michigan men's basketball team battled to the end, but came up just short against No. 9 Ohio, 62-55, in the first round of the 2009 FirstEnergy MAC Men's Basketball Tournament at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.
Senior Shawntes Gary defined the toughness of the eighth-seeded Broncos (10-21) in this game and throughout the season. Despite a sprained left ankle suffered on Sunday against Central Michigan, Gary started and played 25 minutes in which he contributed eight points, six rebounds, three assists, one block and one steal before he could no longer continue.
David Kool led the MAC West champions with 10 points, six rebounds, three steals and two assists, while Flenard Whitfield chipped in nine points, six rebounds and one assist.
After trailing by as many as 10 points in the second half, Whitfield hit a face-up jumper off the glass with 2:29 remaining to give WMU the lead, 55-54. The Broncos forced a miss on the other end, but gave up an offensive rebound. Ohio (15-16) committed an offensive foul and was unable to capitalize, but the Broncos turned the ball over on the other end and Michael Allen hit a driving layup in transition to give the lead back to Ohio, 56-55, with 1:28 to play.
The Broncos would miss five shots down the stretch and the Bobcats converted 6-of-8 free throws to hang on to the victory.
Western Michigan hit more field goals, 20-18, and three-pointers, 7-5, while also outrebounding the Bobcats, 38-35 and finishing with a positive assist/turnover ratio (14:13). The difference came at the free throw line. Ohio connected on 21-of-26 (.808) and Western Michigan hit 8-of-15 (.533), including just 4-of-6 in the second half.
A three-pointer by Michael Redell after a steal by Kool put WMU up four, 6-2, early until Ohio cut the lead to one on two occassions. Andre Ricks drove the baseline to put the Broncos back up three, 10-7, with 14:44 to play and then Demetrius Ward canned a three-pointer from the left corner off a drive and kick from Redell to push the lead to six, 13-7, with 12:04 remaining.
The Broncos then went scoreless for the next 5:25 as the Bobcats went on a 7-0 run to take their first lead, 15-14, since 2-1 with 6:41 to go in the half. Kool stopped the run by hitting a jumper, but Allen converted a layup to put Ohio back up. Ohio continued to build on the lead and took a four-point lead into the locker room, 25-21.
The Bobcats kept up the pressure in the second half by scoring the first six points to go up 10, 31-21, with 18:30 left in the game. The Broncos called timeout and returned to the court inspired. Gary made a steal and scored on the fastbreak, followed by Whitfield hitting a jumper and Donald Lawson threw down a two-hand jam after a feed from Redell. Gary scored again on a putback with 16:02 left to make it a two-point game, 31-29, with 16:02 left.
Ohio regrouped and got a jumper and dunk from DeVaughn Washington to go back up six, 35-29, and kept WMU at bay for a few minutes. Martelle McLemore hit a three-pointer with 10:29 to play to cut the lead to three, 40-37, and then Whitfield dunked to make it a two-point game, 41-39. Ward made a steal on the next possession and then came up with the offensive rebound after a miss by Whitfield. The Broncos got three more shots with two jumpers from Redell and a wide-open three-pointer at the top of the key from Kool, but couldn't convert. After the Kool miss, Ohio raced up court and Tommy Freeman buried a wide open three-pointer on the right wing to put Ohio back up five, 44-39, with 8:44 to play.
Ohio built on that momentum and maintained a seven-point lead, 52-45, with 5:20 to play when the Broncos made their final run. Lawson scored on a layup off a feed from Whitfield and then Kool hit his only three-pointer of the game with a hand in his face to make it a two-point game, 52-50. Ohio stopped the run with two free throws, but Ward found Redell on the wing for another three-pointer to make it a one-point game and then Whitfield's jumper on the next possession put WMU on top, but would be the final points of the night for WMU.
The Broncos hit 33.9 percent of their shots (20-59), including 7-of-24 three-pointers, but they held Ohio to only 18-of-48 shooting (.375) and 5-of-18 beyond the arc.
Redell added six points, five assists and three rebounds for the Broncos, while Lawson had six points, three rebounds and one steal. Ward was key off the bench with three points, four rebounds two assists, two steals and no turnovers. McLemore also canned a pair of triples off the bench for the Brown & Gold.
Ohio was paced by Jerome Tillman with 14 points, while Allen, Washington and Steven Coleman all scored 12 points.
The Bobcats advance to the quarterfinals to play top seed Bowling Green on Thursday at 7 p.m.
