KALAMAZOO, Mich. - The Western Michigan men's basketball team lit it up on offense for the second straight conference game, and the Broncos defeated the Ball State Cardinals 78-61 at University Arena on Wednesday. The Broncos improve to 12-16 on the season with the win, including a 6-7 record in Mid-American Conference play.
The Broncos continued with what has been an absolutely torrid pace from three-point range, going 13 of 21 (.619) from beyond the arc against the Cardinals for the fourth-best single game total in program history . It is the second straight MAC game in which the Broncos tied that mark, having made 13 treys at Northern Illinois one week ago.
Senior Demetrius Ward led the way with a 6 of 9 performance from three-point range; he has made 16 of his past 33 three-point attempts for a 48.5 long-distance shooting percentage. Ward finished the game with a game-high 20 points. Nate Hutcheson and Flenard Whitfield each finished the game with 15 points, while Matt Stainbrook had 11 points and a team-high eight rebounds.
As stated, the Broncos began the game in a manner reminiscent of the game at Northern Illinois, running the offense from the inside out and burying jumpers. Ward did the majority of the damage, knocking down five of his seven three-point attempts for 15 points in the first half. The Broncos trailed early but used a 12-0 run midway through the half to put some ground between themselves and the Cardinals; Ward made a triple from the right wing to give WMU a 13-10 lead at the 12:17 mark, and would kick out a pass that enabled Brandon Pokley to add a trey at the 11:31 mark.
Pokley returned the favor less than 30 seconds later when he stole a ball on the defensive end and hit Ward with a pass in the corner that was turned into a three-pointer. Ward would cap the run with one more triple, giving WMU a 22-10 lead with just over 10 minutes to play. The Cardinals would storm back and take a 35-29 lead with 1:18 to play, but Mike Douglas would knock down a three from the right corner to cut the lead to three points, and Ward would add one final bomb, scoring on a fall-away three-point jumper from the right side to tie the game heading into halftime.
The Broncos opened the second half on a 12-5 run and never looked back, keeping the Cardinals at bay with a post presence, as opposed to the long range barrage in the first half. After scoring just two points in the first half, Flenard Whitfield had nine points in the first 10 minutes of the second half, including fast break lay-ups on back-to-back possessions to give the Broncos a 58-46 lead and force BSU into a timeout.
The closest the Cardinals would get the rest of the way came at the 4:55 mark, when Tyrae Robinson made a free throw to cut the gap to 64-58. However, Nate Hutcheson unleashed a highlight reel dunk at the 4:42 mark to expand the lead to eight points, and would drain a three less than a minute later to make it 69-59 with 3:49 remaining.
The Broncos held the Cardinals without a point for the final 2:44 of the game, finishing the game on a 9-0 run that was capped when Ward hit an off-balance three-pointer with the shot clock expiring to make it 78-61.
Hutcheson's Dunk
