CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Western Michigan men's basketball team used
a 15-3 run late in the second half to pull away from their in-state
rivals, and the Broncos defeated the Eastern Michigan Eagles 70-55 in
the quarterfinal round of the 2013 First Energy Mid-American Conference
tournament. With the win, the Broncos improve to 20-11 on the season,
their fifth 20-win season in 10 seasons under head coach
Steve Hawkins
and ninth in program history.
Shayne Whittington earned Player of
the Game honors from the MAC, dropping a game-high 23 points on the
Eagles to go along with eight rebounds, two assists, a block, and a
steal.
Darius Paul had 14 points and seven rebounds,
Brandon Pokley
contributed 11 points, six rebounds, and four assists, and
David Brown
notched 12 points off the bench.
The Eagles used a 13-4 run to
pull within just a single point of the Broncos in the second half,
making it 50-49 with 8:31 to play. Paul went on a personal 4-0 run to
extend the Broncos' lead, slamming home the two-handed dunk to make it
52-49 with 8:09 remaining, and tipping in an errant shot with 7:26
remaining to give the Broncos a two-possession lead and force the Eagles
into a timeout.
Those points would, in fact, spark a 15-3 run
for the Broncos, who never looked back in putting it on the Eagles the
rest of the way. Pokley drained a pair of free throws with 6:08
remaining to make it a seven-point game, and went on to tip in a ball on
the rim to make it 58-49 with 4:46 left. Whittington gave the Broncos a
10-point lead with 2:17 remaining, completing an old-fashioned
three-point play with a dunk and an ensuing free throw off Da'Shonte
Riley's foul.
David Brown pushed the lead to 12 points with
free throw makes at the 1:08 mark, and
Nate Hutcheson gave the Broncos
their largest lead of the night with two tosses in the final minute,
making it 70-55 with 43 seconds left.
The Broncos opened the game
on an extended tear, with Whittington pacing the team through the
opening minutes of the first half thanks to the adroit post passing of
his teammates. Paul gave the Broncos a 4-2 lead with a jumper from the
free throw line at the 18:06 mark, and Whittington took a post feed from
Brandon Pokley at the 17:21 mark to give WMU a 6-2 lead. Whittington
capped the 8-2 run with a pair of free throw makes after a slick inlet
pass led to a near-unobstructed path to the hoop.
The Eagles hung
tough, though, and took a 12-11 lead with 10:29 remaining in the first
half on a Daylen Harrison three-pointer. The Eagles' lead reached six
points at the 5:37 mark with a lay-up from Anthony Strickland, and
Da'Shonte Riley kept it at five points with a lay-up with 4:45
remaining.
However, WMU closed the first half on a tear, using an
8-1 run to turn the deficit into a four-point lead at the break.
Connar Tava took a back door pass from Pokley and laid it in to cut
EMU's lead to three points, and Whittington made it just a one-point
game with a pair of free throw makes. Whittington re-took the lead for
the Broncs at the 2:53 mark when Paul dished a sick no-look bounce pass
in the post, which Whittington picked up and threw down to make it
32-31. Whittington made two more free throws at the 2:10 mark to give
the Broncos a three-point lead, and Paul capped the scoring in the half
with a tip-in with 1:27 remaining.
WMU opened the lead up to
eight points at the start of the second half, continuing to gouge the
Eagles with inside-out action.
David Brown drilled a long two-pointer
just inside the three-point line to make it 38-32, and Hutcheson hit a
floating hook shot at the 18:18 mark to extend the lead to eight
points. Whittington extended the lead to 46-36 with a 15-foot jumper at
the 15:19 mark, and a pair of free throw makes from Paul at the 13:39
mark gave WMU a 48-40 lead.
