KALAMAZOO, Mich. - The Western Michigan men's basketball team put together two dominant halves of basketball, and the Broncos maintained their perfect home record in 2011-12 with a 74-52 win over the Toledo Rockets at University Arena. With the victory, the Broncos improve to 8-9 overall, 2-1 in Mid-American Conference play.
The Broncos were in control of most major categories, including a stifling 48-24 rebounding advantage and holding the Rockets to a 35.7 shooting percentage. The Broncos were especially effective in holding down the long-range attack; Toledo shot just 15.0 percent from three-point range, less than half of their season average entering the game.
Conversely, the Broncos showed a diversified, balanced attack, shooting 49.2 percent from the field. Flenard Whitfield had his best game since returning to the line-up against Ball State; he shot an impressive 8-of-11 from the field for a game-high 19 points in just 22 minutes of play. Whitfield also recorded six rebounds and three blocks, the first of which came early in the first half and showed he was not slowed by his previous ankle injury.
Matt Stainbrook recorded his second double-double of the season and the seventh of his career, scoring 13 points and pulling down 11 rebounds. He finished with six assists, just four short of his first career triple-double. The Broncos recorded 18 assists as a team, compared to just five for Toledo; Demetrius Ward led the way with eight dimes.
The Broncos took a while to get going in the first half, but once they did they completely controlled the tempo. WMU trailed 6-2 at the first media timeout, but Whitfield drew a foul in the paint to spark a run for the Broncos. After forcing a turnover on the defensive end, Douglas drove to the hoop for a lay up at the 15:41 mark to cut Toledo's lead to 6-5.
The Rockets' Rian Pearson countered with a 12-footer at 15:13, but it would be the last points the Broncos would allow for a long time. Whitfield would hit a turnaround jumper to cut Toledo's lead to 8-7, and the Broncos took the lead for good when Hayden Hoerdemann drained a three-pointer from the right wing, making it 10-8 with 12:19 remaining in the half. All told, the scoring was part of a 20-4 Western Michigan run, with the Broncos holding the Rockets without a point for a 5:21 stretch in the half.
Stainbrook would establish his presence late in the first half, taking over the game-high in points with just one eight-minute stretch. Stainbrook scored 11 points in the final 8:22 of the first half, going 5-of-7 from the field in that span. Stainbrook tacked on the final point of the half when he drew a foul under the hoop with 1.1 seconds remaining on the clock and made a subsequent free throw.
The Broncos kept the pressure on in the second half, attacking the paint against the Rockets with a healthy dose of Whitfield. Whitfield shot 6-of-6 in the second half for 14 points, and was part of the Broncos' effort to out-score the Rockets 24-10 in the paint in the second half. The closest Toledo would get in the second half was at the 14:45 mark, when Dominique Buckley hit a jumper to make it 41-33. However, Stainbrook would kick a pass out of a double-team to Hoerdemann, who buried a three to give the Broncos an 11-point lead.
The Broncos would hold Toledo to just nine points over the next two media timeouts, outscoring the Rockets 24-9 during a 7:53 span in the second half. Whitfield made a pair of free throws give extend WMU's lead to 66-40 with 6:42 remaining in the game to cap the run, and the Broncos would expand the lead to as many as 29 points when Nate Hutcheson made a three from just beyond the head of the key at the 4:54 mark. The Broncos would clear the bench for the rest of the game, running down the clock and taking the game 74-52.
