KALAMAZOO, Mich. - The Western Michigan men's basketball team unleashed its greatest offensive barrage in nearly three full years, and the Broncos defeated the Oakland Golden Grizzlies 99-88 at University Arena on Tuesday. With the win, the Broncos improve to 4-2 on the season, and will conclude a season-long four-game homestand against Cornell on Friday.
The Broncos totaled 99 points on 28-of-49 (.571) shooting, including a 9-of-21 (.429) mark from three-point range, as well as a 34-of-42 night from the free throw line. The 99 points represented the highest scoring output for the Broncos since scoring 99 in an overtime loss to Troy on Dec. 21, 2010, a 102-99 defeat at the World Vision Invitational in Logan, Utah. The last time the Broncos scored 99 points or more in a regulation game came on Dec. 4 of that same year, a 109-50 win over Alma, but the last time they did it against a Division I opponent was Dec. 22, 1999, when they scored 101 against Marist in just 40 minutes.
David Brown set a career-high with 31 points, including an 8-of-16 (.500) mark from the field and an 11-of-13 (.846) performance from the charity stripe. Also setting career-highs in scoring were Connar Tava, who recorded 20 points on 8-of-8 (1.000) from the field as well as four free throws, and Tucker Haymond, who posted his first career double-digit scoring game with 13 points. Shayne Whittington added 17 points and six rebounds, and Austin Richie scored 13 points.
WMU caught fire from the very outset of the game, holding the Grizzlies scoreless through the first 4:01 of the first half and out-scoring them 11-0 in the process. Brown hit a pair of three-pointers in the run, including one to make it 9-0 on a kickout from Haymond, and Tava completed the rally when Haymond swiped the ball from Corey Petros and kicked it ahead for the fast break lay-up. Oakland fired back with a 25-9 run of their own, though, going 8-of-8 from three-point range to start the game and holding a 28-20 lead on a three from Dante Williams. Duke Mondy maintained the advantage with a three to make it 33-25 with 8:17 left in the half, but the Broncos chopped away, closing the half on a 15-2 run. Brown gave the Broncos the lead again with a pair of free throw makes at the 3:59 mark, making it 39-37, and Whittington converted a pass from Tava into a lay-up with 3:14 remaining to make it a four-point edge. Brown drilled a wide-open three from the right corner to give the Broncos 49-37 lead, and WMU entered the locker room leading by a score of 49-39.
If the first half was about building the lead, then the second was about holding on to it, and the Broncos did that exceptionally well. Richie made a rhythm three-pointer off a scream to give WMU a 54-41 edge, and on the next possession hit Tava on a fast break for a lay-up to up the lead to 15 points with 17:39 remaining, the Broncos' largest lead of the game. The Golden Grizzlies got as close as they were going to get for the remainder of the game with 12:07 remaining, when Dante Williams hit a jumper in the paint to make it 62-55, but Brown scored five of the next seven points for the Broncos in helping them re-build the lead to 69-55. WMU's advantage dipped below double-digits just a handful of times the rest of the game, and the Broncos went 10-of-10 from the free throw line down the stretch to ice the 99-89 win.
