ANAHEIM, Calif. –
David Brown made a lay-up with 1.1 seconds remaining to cap an 8-0 run, and the Western Michigan men's basketball team came back from a six-point deficit in the final two minutes to eke out a 68-66 win over the San Diego Toreros in the final game of the 2014 DIRECTV Wooden Legacy. The Broncos improve to 5-2 on the season with the victory.
Brown's make came as the result of an end-to-end rush by the senior guard on the Broncos' final possession of the game. With the score tied at 66 with 7.9 seconds remaining, San Diego's Christopher Anderson missed two free throws and gave the ball back to WMU with plenty of time to run a play. Coming out of a timeout, Brown rushed the ball down the court and made his way into the paint against the Toreros, fighting through incidental contact and tossing the ball into the hoop for the bucket. Johnny Dee sent up a prayer three-pointer off the inbounds play but it was well off the mark, securing the win for the Broncos.
The Broncos trailed 66-60 with 2:08 remaining, but Brown started the Broncos' game-winning run with a running one-handed jumper from the free throw line to cut the deficit to just four points. Tucker Haymond sliced it to just one basket on the next possession, drawing contact from Jito Kok and sinking a pair of free throws with 1:15 to play in regulation. A key defensive play came moments later, when Haymond successfully challenged Dee at the three-point line and forced an errant shot that was rebounded by Drake LaMont. Connar Tava got the call on the offensive end of the floor and made a hook shot from the paint to tie the game at 66 with 21 seconds remaining.
Tava finished with a game-high 23 points on 9-of-16 shooting in 36 minutes of play. Brown finished with 14 points and a career-high seven assists while also notching three steals against the Toreros. Haymond had 10 points and a game-high eight rebounds. The Broncos out-rebounded San Diego 36-29 and held the Toreros to a 41.8 field goal percentage, including a 9-of-27 performance in the second half that included a six-minute drought from the field to start the period.
The first half began with an early Bronco advantage, as WMU scored the first four points of the contest to take the lead. Dee capped a 10-2 run for the Toreros at the 15:44 mark with a three-pointer from the left wing to give USD a 10-6 edge, and San Diego again held a four-point lead with 6:20 remaining in the half on a trey from Anderson. Haymond responded with an old-fashioned three-point play on the next possession, making a difficult lay-up while drawing contact from Thomas Jacobs, and Thomas Wilder tied the score a few minutes later with a free throw make.
The Toreros extended the lead to five points with 2:44 to play on a lay-up by Brett Bailey, but Taylor Perry took a feed from Brown and laid it in cut the deficit to three points, and Tava sank two free throws to make it just a one-point game. Brown scored with 42 seconds left in the half to keep it a one-point deficit entering the locker room, as WMU trailed San Diego 40-39 at the break.
