KALAMAZOO, Mich. - The Western Michigan men's basketball team put forth a gritty effort against Southern Illinois on Sunday, as the Broncos defeated the Salukis 54-43 at University Arena. With the win, the Broncos improve to 2-7 overall, while Southern Illinois falls to 1-5.
Playing with their third different starting line-up in as many games, the Broncos out-hustled the Salukis over the course of 40 minutes, diving for loose balls and out-rebounding Southern Illinois 47-30. Senior Demetrius Ward, playing out of position at the forward spot, contributed a game-high 16 points to go with six rebounds and three steals. Redshirt sophomore David Brown made his third consecutive start and had his best career game as a Bronco, recording his first career double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds.
The game was low-scoring for much of the first 30 minutes of play, with the Broncos trailing for a grand total of 24 seconds over the course of the game, all during the first five minutes of play. The Broncos bent but didn't break, though, and didn't relent the lead to the Salukis after the 15:45 mark of the game.
Ward began to heat up in the second half, hitting a lay-up at the 11:48 mark and following it up with a three-pointer just a few possessions later, making it 34-28 with 11:04 remaining in the game. The Broncos continued to pull away midway through the second half with Stainbrook rolled in a lay-up at the 10:20 mark, drawing the foul on the shot. The Salukis began to pull back, though, cutting the lead to 39-38 on a Mamadou Seck jumper with 6:09 remaining.
Brown bumped the lead back to three points with a pair of free throws at the 5:16 mark, and would make what Broncos head coach Steve Hawkins would later call "the play of the game" one possession later. With 4:05 remaining and the Broncos leading 42-38, Brown recorded a block of SIU's Antonio Bryer on the defensive end and would rush to the offensive end, diving out of bounds to save a loose ball and collect an offensive rebound. The ball would find its way back to Brown, who drilled a three-pointer to give the Broncos a 45-38 lead with 3:24 left in the game.
The Broncos would build their final lead up to 11 points, going 7-of-10 from the free throw line in the final two minutes to ice the game away against the Salukis.
The first half defined the term defensive struggle, as both teams spent much of the opening stanza looking for a way to put the ball in the hoop. The Broncos opened the scoring on a Ward lay-up at the 19:06 mark, but the two teams would soon find themselves deadlocked at 5-5, trading defensive stops. Brown would break the drought at the 9:35 mark, grabbing an offensive rebound off his own shot and laying it in for the score. It would be the start of a 10-0 run for the Broncos, who held the Salukis scoreless from the 15:57 mark of the first half until the 4:36 mark, a span of 11 minutes and 21 seconds. The Broncos would lead by as many as 12 points in the first half, when Matt Stainbrook hit a pair of free throws to give WMU a 21-9 lead with two minutes remaining. Stainbrook finished the half with a team-high seven points, and ended up with 13 points, six rebounds, and three blocks.
The broncos return to action this Saturday, December 17 against the Duquesne Dukes of the A-10. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m.
