KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan men's basketball team got its first taste of regular season action on Sunday, lighting up the scoreboard with an exceptional shooting performance to defeat the Aquinas Saints 87-57 at University Arena and improve to 1-0 on the year.
The Bronco backcourt was absolutely on fire, with David Brown and Austin Richie combining to go 18-of-21 (.857) from the field and 9-of-10 (.900) from three-point range). Richie finished with a career-high 28 points on 10-of-11 shooting while Brown went 8-of-10 and 4-of-5 from beyond the arc, making his first six total shots to start the game.
WMU went 33-of-56 from the field as a team for a 58.9 field goal percentage while still holding their opponents to a 34.5 mark, including a paltry 28.6 percent shooting in the second half. Connar Tava contributed 13 points as well as game-highs with eight rebounds and five assists. Freshman center Drake LaMont made his first career start, adding seven points, six rebounds, and no turnovers.
The game began with a 16-2 run for WMU, who seemingly couldn't miss as they peppered the Saints with shots in the first five minutes of play. The Broncos drained four straight three-pointers to take the advantage, capping the run when Richie hit a triple moving to his right off a screen with 15:58 remaining in the half. The Saints pulled to within five points midway through the half when Anthony Williams made a mid-range jumper to cut it to 24-19, but Richie finished off an and-one with a free throw make on the next possession to boost the lead back up.
The senior point guard scored the final four points of the half, first hitting an NBA-range three from just to the right of the key to make it 46-26, and finishing off a fast break lay-up after Tava picked off a pass by Dorian Armstrong and advanced it to Richie. Richie kissed it off the glass and into the hoop with 27 seconds remaining to set the halftime deficit at 48-26.
The starters contributed some minutes to begin the second half, but midway through the reserves took over to seal out the victory. Jared Klein knocked down a fast break jumper from the head of the key with 11:04 remaining to up the Broncos' lead to 61-45, and on the next possession AJ Avery cleaned up an errant Klein shot, tipping it back in for an 18-point advantage. Tava remained in the game and caught fire late in the half, scoring on lay-ups on three straight possessions to make it 71-49 with 6:30 remaining. The junior forward made two free throws with 4:08 left to make it a 30-point advantage, and there it would stay as WMU closed out the win.
