KALAMAZOO, Mich. - The Western Michigan men's basketball team came within inches of reaching the quarterfinals of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament, but a Demetrius Ward jumper missed as time expired and the Buffalo Bulls defeated the Broncos 49-48 at University Arena.  With the loss, WMU concludes its season at 21-13; Buffalo improves to 20-13 and will face Iona in the CIT semifinals.

With 7.1 seconds remaining and trailing 49-48, the Broncos pressed on defense and forced Buffalo's Zach Filzen to travel deep in his own territory, allowing WMU to set up a play for a final shot.  After Buffalo's Byron Mulkey tipped the inbound pass behind half court, the Broncos had 5.8 seconds for a final shot.  Ward lifted a jumper from the right side that just missed the mark.

The game itself was plagued by turnovers and miss free throws, as neither team could take advantage of their trips to the foul line.  Buffalo shot just 7-for-23 (.304) from the charity stripe, but the Broncos were troubled with turnovers in the first half that gave the Bulls an edge.

The Bulls would take an early 12-6 lead as WMU fought through a seven-minute scoring drought;  Flenard Whitfield snapped WMU out of the funk at the 9:23 mark with a lay-up and before long the Broncos caught fire.  The Bulls led by as many as 10 points in the first half, but that lead evaporated quickly as WMU went on a 15-2 run late in the half.  Caleb Dean tied the score at 18-18 with 6:01 remaining in the first, and Alex Wolf poured in eight of his first half-best 10 points as the Broncos established a one-point lead.  Wolf hit a pair of three-pointers in the first half - the only two of the half for WMU - as the Broncos entered the locker room owning a 26-23 lead.

Wolf would give the Broncos their largest lead of the afternoon with in the second half, drilling another three-pointer at 11:09 to make 41-32.  The Bulls would begin chipping away at the lead, but Whitfield snapped another long scoreless drought for the Broncos with buckets on consecutive possessions, including an emphatic dunk at the 3:59 mark.  Buffalo would score eight of the next 10 points, though, with Filzen nailing what would stand as the game-winner at the 1:50 mark.

Wolf, in his final game in a Broncos uniform, recorded a game-high 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting, including a 3-of-5 mark from three-point range.  Whitfield finished the game with 12 points, five rebounds, one assist, one block, and one steal.  Matt Stainbrook had eight points and nine rebounds.

Whitfield's Dunk