KALAMAZOO, Mich. - The Western Michigan men's basketball team, decked out in throwback jerseys reminiscent of their NCAA Tournament team of 1997-98, survived a late charge from a hot-shooting Alabama A&M team as the Broncos defeated the Bulldogs 73-69 at University Arena on Sunday. With the win, the Broncos improve to 3-1 on the season.
The Broncos held their late lead thanks to the efforts of a pair of seniors, as Shayne Whittington and David Brown both produced the highlights of the game to steer the Broncos to victory. Whittington finished with his second double-double in as many games, scoring 21 points and adding a career-high 17 rebounds. Brown had his second 20-point game of the season, scoring 21 and added four rebounds. Junior Austin Richie had a career-high eight assists to go with seven points, and Connar Tava added nine points. WMU out-shot the Bulldogs, going 22 of 48 (.459) from the field, and out-rebounded Alabama A&M 44-32.
The key stretch which the Broncos used to propel themselves ahead started at the halfway point of the first half, with WMU holding just a 19-16 lead over the Bulldogs with 10:19 to play in the period. Whittington made a hook shot at the 10:01 mark to put the Broncos ahead by five points, and Brown stretched the lead to 24-17 with a pair of free throw makes at the 7:27 mark. Richie capped an 11-3 run with a pair of free throw makes to make it 30-19, and Jared Klein and Whittington hit three's on back-to-back baskets to give The Broncos a 40-23 edge with under a minute to play in the half. The Bulldogs scored on a three-pointer from Jeremy Crutcher on the next possession, but WMU went into the locker room at half leading 40-26.
The barrage continued into the second half, as Tava expanded the Broncos' lead to 20 points at the 17:48 mark with a lay-up, making it 46-26 as the Broncos held the Bulldogs scoreless through the first 3:01 of the second half. The lead jumped to 51-36 on an alley-oop dunk from Whittington, forcing the Bulldogs to call timeout with 13:59 to play in the half.
WMU led by 17 points with 13 minutes remaining when Taylor Perry scooped in a reverse lay-up but it dipped into single-digits for the remainder of the contest just a short while later as Arthur Capers made two consecutive baskets to make it just 58-51 with 8:56 to play.
The Bulldogs cut the lead even further as time went on, and at one point sat just one point behind the Broncos, trailing 67-66 with 1:37 to play. Whittington made a looping hook shot 20 seconds later to extend the lead to three points, and Brown went around the end on the very next possession and made the finger roll lay-up, giving WMU a 71-66 advantage. Brown made a pair of free throws with 26 seconds remaining to give the Broncos a 73-68 edge, and the Bulldogs recorded just one free throw make down the stretch as WMU completed the win.
