KALAMAZOO, Mich. - The Western Michigan men's basketball team kept up its reputation as one of the hottest teams in the Mid-American Conference, defeating Buffalo 71-60 at University Arena on Saturday night. The stands as the sixth straight for the Broncos, who improve to 14-7 overall and 6-2 in the MAC.
The Broncos excelled in the classic definition of MAC basketball in the second half, holding the Bulls to 32.0 percent shooting from the field and out-rebounding them 27-13, all while outscoring them 40-29. The WMU bench provided a lift in the game, outscoring Buffalo 26-6, and the Broncos forced the Bulls into 20 turnovers, which they turned into 21 points.
Shayne Whittington finished with 21 points and 15 rebounds for his team-leading sixth double-double of the season, the most for a Bronco in one season since Joe Reitz recorded six during the 2007-08 season.
Darius Paul contributed 15 poitns and eight rebounds, while
David Brown came off the bench to post 13 points and five rebounds.
Hutcheson opened the scoring for the Broncos in the second half, giving them a 33-31 lead with a lay-up, and
Darius Paul extended the lead at the 18:03 mark when he grabbed an offensive rebound and hit a hook shot in the paint. Paul drew the contact from Will Regan but missed the free throw; however, Hutcheson grabbed the offensive board, and the play ultimately resulted in Paul throwing down a putback dunk to make it 37-32.
Hutcheson remained active in the second half, contributing to a series of plays that resulted in Buffalo burning a 30-second timeout. With 15:32 remaining in the half, Hutcheson swatted Cameron Downing's lay-up attempt and pulled the rebound down himself. Hutcheson lifted a lead pass the length of the court to
Austin Richie, who hauled the pass in and laid it up to give the Broncos a 43-36 lead.
Paul and Brown were the chief threats in the half for the Broncos attacking the hoop and making energy plays to push the Broncos to their largest leads of the night. Brown scored five straight points for the Broncos from 13:12 to 11:07, and
Taylor Perry made a pair of free throws to make it 48-42 with 10:28 remaining. Paul gave the Broncos a 10-point lead for the first time in the evening, hauling in an offensive board and spinning around his man to lay it in and make it 52-42.
The Bulls used an 8-3 mini-run to pull within five points of the Broncos, but Whittington swished a right-handed hook shot with 5:01 remaining to give the Broncos a 57-50 advantage. The Broncos continued to attack the paint, and Whittington put the Broncos ahead by three scores at the 2:36 mark, draining another hook shot to make it 63-56. Paul made a pair from the charity stripe to put the lead at nine points with under two minutes to play, and Whittington pushed the advantage back above double-digits with a 15-footer from the left wing at the 1:26 mark. From there, the Broncos went 5-of-7 from the free throw line and held the Bulls to just four more points, setting the final deficit at 71-60.
The first half was an even bout between the two teams, with the Broncos and Bulls trading leads for the better part of the period. Buffalo opened the game on a 7-3 run, but
Shayne Whittington scored five straight points for the Broncos to cut the Buffalo lead to 10-7, and
David Brown tied the score at the 11:54 mark with a three-point make.
Dan Loney gave the Broncos a 14-12 lead at the 10:15 mark with a lay-up on a back-door pass from Tava, and Whittington made it a four-point game a minute later with a pair of free throws.
Buffalo took a five-point lead with 2:27 remaining in the first half on a Javon McCrea lay-up, but Brown responded immediately with a three-pointer on his next trip down the court. McCrea struck again with a lay-up at the 1:54 mark, but Brown again provided the counterpunch, scoring on a lay-up with 1:14 remaining to make it 31-29. Whittington tied the score for the half with a 15-foot jumper with 46 seconds remaining, and Taylor perry maintained the dead lock when he swatted Jarryn Skeete's three-point attempt as time expired.
