ROCHESTER, Mich. – The Western Michigan men's basketball team held off a hard-charging Oakland team in the second half with an 8-0 run, and the Broncos picked up their first road win of the season with an 82-71 victory over the Golden Grizzlies at the O'rena on Wednesday. With the win, the Broncos improve to 2-0 on the season.
The Golden Grizzlies slashed a late deficit to tie the game at 65 with 5:35 remaining, but the Broncos did not allow the momentum to swing completely in their opponents' favor. Connar Tava drew a foul from Femi Olujobi and sank both free throws to re-take the lead, and on the next possession Austin Richie drained a three-pointer on the move off a screen to make it 70-65.
Tava and Tucker Haymond combined to swipe the ball from Olujobi in the post on the next possession, and Haymond proceeded directly to the other end to drill a triple and up the lead to 72-65. The Golden Grizzlies never got within seven points again as the Broncos held on for the lead.
Tava recorded his first double-double of the season with a team-high 21 points and 10 rebounds despite giving up six inches and 20 points to Oakland's 6-11 center Corey Petros. Tava also contributed a team-high five assists and a steal. Haymond had 19 points on 8-of-11 shooting and pulled down six rebounds. Kellen McCormick came off the bench for 14 points on 5-of-7 from the field and 4-of-5 from three-point range.
Defensively the Broncos held the high-flying Golden Grizzlies in check, holding Preseason Horizon League selection Petros scoreless in the second half and keeping top three-point shooter Max Hooper without a point in the game.
Kahlil Felder put the Golden Grizzlies ahead to start the game with a lay-up at 18:35, but David Brown drained an NBA-range three from the right win on the next possession and the Broncos never trailed in the game again. Haymond went off for 12 points in the first half, upping the lead to three points with a bucket at 8-5, and the sophomore from Seattle made it a 21-14 edge after he made a lay-up and drew a foul from Tommie McCune with 9:27 remaining in the first half. A 7-0 run pulled Oakland even with WMU, but Haymond responded again with a trey at 6:38 to re-take the lead. Freshman Thomas Wilder drained the final two shots of the half to give WMU a 35-29 lead at the break.
The Broncos' biggest lead to date in the game came midway in the second half when Haymond tipped in an errant shot to make it 55-45, but the Golden Grizzlies chipped away and tied it on an old-fashioned three-point play by Olujobi. WMU recovered, though, notching an 8-0 run to seal the deal against Oakland.
WMU will be back in action on Saturday, Nov. 22 when they host Drake at University Arena. Tip-off is scheduled for 1 p.m.
