BOX SCORE

QUOTES

NOTES

MUNCIE, Ind. -- David Kool scored 22 points and Alex Wolf added a career-high 18, but Western Michigan couldn't overcome a big first half deficit in losing at Ball State, 75-68, on Wednesday night.

Kool moved into second all-time in career points at Western Michigan (10-7, 2-2 MAC) with 1,750, which is 38 points shy of tying Manny Newsome's school record.

The Broncos could never get on track offensively in the first half against a staunch Ball State (8-8, 2-2 MAC) defense as the Cardinals jumped out to a 17-4 lead. Kool came back with back-to-back scores in the paint to cut the lead to nine, 17-8, with 8:42 to play. Baskets were still too few for WMU and Ball State went on an 19-7 run to go up by 21, 36-15, on Pierre Sneed's three-point play with six seconds left in the half. Alex Wolf hit three free throws with six-tenths of a second remaining to cut the deficit to 18, 36-18, at halftime.

The Broncos shot 26 percent and made only six field goals and no three-pointers in the opening half, while the Cardinals made 61.5 percent (16-26) of their shots, including nine buckets in the paint.

Early in the second half, the Broncos went on an 8-0 run behind back-to-back McLemore triples to pull within 12, 38-26, less than three minutes into the half. Ball State responded with six in a row of its own to go back up by 18, 44-26, after a putback by Malik Perry with 15:30 remaining.

The Broncos cut the lead to 12, 48-36, with 10:01 to go when Kool found Wolf in the left corner for a three-pointer and again with 9:15 to go when Kool hit two free throws, 50-38. The Broncos kept pushing and Wolf canned another three from the right wing to pull WMU within 10, 53-43, with 7:12 to play. BSU came back and hit back-to-back jumpers to go up 14, 57-43, with 5:22 to go.

The Broncos kept hanging around and finally got the lead to single digits, 59-50, as Kool hit a three-pointer on the left wing to tie Booker James for second place in career scoring at Western Michigan with 4:11 on the clock. Ball State scored four in a row, but then Kool stole and inbounds pass and went in for a lay-up. Ball State turned the ball over again on the inbounds and Kool hit a step-back jumper to cut the lead to nine, 63-54, with 2:37 to go.

The Broncos kept hitting three-pointers down the stretch as Wolf hit his fourth of the game to cut the deficit to six, 70-64, with 52 seconds to go and then it was five, 71-66, after Lawson's lay-up with 13 seconds to go. Ball State countered with 16-of-18 free throws in the final five minutes ot the game to hang on.

The Broncos return to University Arena to host Toledo (3-15, 0-4 MAC) on Saturday at 2 p.m.