KALAMAZOO, Mich. - The Western Michigan men's basketball team had their 14-game non-conference home win streak snapped on Wednesday, as the Broncos fell behind early against the North Dakota State Bison and were unable to entirely catch up, losing by a score of 83-74. With the loss, the Broncos fall to 3-2 overall on the season.
David Brown caught fire in the second half of the game, pouring in 19 of his career- and game-high 27 points in the final 20 minutes of play. He shot 9-of-21 from the field and drew contact as well, finishing 8-of-10 from the free throw line to pad his total. Connar Tava and Shayne Whittington each added 16 points, while Whittington finished just one rebound shy of his third straight double-double performance.
The difference in the game came in shooting from the field; the Bison went 31-of-53 for a 58.5 percent mark from the floor, while the Broncos shot just 23-of-53 (.434) from the field. The difference more even more pronounced in the first half, as the Bison shot 68.2 percent from the field and limited the Broncos to just a 36.0 percent mark.
The Broncos' best chance to come back in the game came late in the second half, when they erased what was a one point a 15-point deficit to pull within two possessions in the final minutes. Tucker Haymond scored on a fast break lay-up after Austin Richie grabbed a defensive rebound and advanced the ball to Haymond on the fast break, making it 69-58 with 5:05 to play; Haymond swiped the ball from Lawrence Alexander on the next play and advanced it to Brown, who laid it in to make it just a nine-point game.
The Bison lead dipped into single digits for good at the 2:35 mark on a lay-up from Brown, and a technical foul from NDSU's Taylor Braun at the 1:31 mark afforded Brown the opportunity to shoot four free throws. He made three of the four, cutting the Bison lead to 75-69. The closest the Broncos got came less than a minute later, when a pair of free throws from Tava slashed the lead to 77-72. North Dakota State was able to break the Broncos' press just enough to continue attacking, however, sinking their free throws to close out the nine-point win.
The Broncos took the lead early in the game by opening on a 5-2 run, with Brown capping the rally at the 17:44 mark with a fast break lay-up. Whittington tipped a ball back in at the 14:42 mark to briefly give WMU a 7-6 lead, but the Bison used an 11-0 run to take a 17-7 lead with 11:42 left in the half. Kellen McCormick drained a three from the corner to cut the lead to seven points, but the Bison continued to advance, taking a 10-point lead on a jumper by Kory Brown at the 6:04 mark and reached a high-water mark of a 12-point edge at the 1:34 mark of the half.
