KALAMAZOO, Mich. - Western Michigan University's men's basketball had three players score over 20 points, but was unable to overcome hot shooting by Buffalo and dropped a 79-68 decision to the Bulls in front of 2,471 at University Arena Tuesday night.
Flenard Whitfield, Demetrius Ward and Juwan Howard Jr. each scored 21 points for the Broncos, but an 11-2 run by the Bulls early in the second half was too much for WMU to overcome the rest of the way. The Bulls shot 71.4 percent (15-of-21) in the second half and 56.3 percent overall (27-of-48) to earn their fourth straight victory in MAC play. The loss drops WMU to 10-9 overall and 3-3 in MAC play.
The 21 points by Whitfield was a career-high for the junior forward, who reached that total on 6-of-8 shooting and 9-of-14 from the line. Whitfield also added a game-high nine rebounds and two steals. The 21 points for Ward tied his career-high, and his nine made field goals in 17 attempts were also both career-highs. Howard shot 6-of-12 from the field and 6-of-8 from the line on his way to matching Ward and Whitfield with 21 points. For the game, WMU shot 44 percent (22-of-50) from the field.
The Bulls had five players score in double figures, led by Zach Filzen with 19 points on 7-of-13 shooting. Dave Barnett (16), Javon McCrea (12), Byron Mulkey (11) and Mitchell Watt (10) also reached double figures for the Bulls. With the victory, the Bulls improved to 12-6 overall and 4-2 in the MAC.
After being locked in a tight game for the game's first 23 minutes, the Bulls went on an 11-2 run to open up a nine point lead WMU would never recover from. Byron Mulkey scored four points during the run for the Bulls, which was capped by a Filzen three to make the score 53-44 with 13:37 to play.
From there, the Bulls hot shooting proved to be too much for the Broncos to overcome. WMU cut the lead to as little as five, but Filzen and company were able to answer. A rough free throw shooting night didn't help the Broncos as they attempted their comeback, as they hit just 55.9 percent of their shots from the charity stripe (19-of-34). By comparison, the Bulls hit 72 percent of their freebies, connecting on 18-of-25 from the line.
Up until that point, the game had been an evenly matched contest that saw the teams trade leads 12 times and the Broncos go into halftime with a 38-37 lead. Whitfield provided the inside scoring punch for the Broncos, scoring 15 points on 5-of-6 shooting in the half. The Broncos led by as many as six after a 9-0 run made the score 26-20 with 7:28 to play in the half. A 6-0 run later in the half by the Bulls gave them the lead briefly, but the Broncos closed out the half with five points from Whitfield and a three from Howard for the halftime margin.
WMU will look to rebound when it travels to Oxford, Ohio for a matchup with the Miami Redhawks on Saturday, Jan. 29 with tip-off set for 4:30 p.m. Live coverage will be provided by the Bronco Radio Network. The game will also air on the Ohio News Network, a regional cable channel throughout the state of Ohio.
