BOSTON, Mass. – The Western Michigan men's basketball team initiated a mad dash in the final minutes to pull within a few points of their opponent, but the Broncos could not come all the way back in falling 81-69 to the Northeastern Huskies at Matthews Arena on Saturday. With the loss, the Broncos' record goes to 5-3 overall on the season.
WMU trailed by 16 points with five minutes to play but went on a 17-8 run to slash the lead, pulling to within six points with under a minute to go after Austin Richie made a three pointer with 55 seconds remaining to make it 75-69. The Huskies held them off, however, scoring six points after that to close out the victory over the Broncos.
Austin Richie scored a team-high 18 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the field, including an exceptional 6-of-9 performance from three-point range. Tucker Haymond added 17 points and a team-high seven rebounds, including 15 points in the second half, while Connar Tava scored 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting and pulled down six rebounds. The Broncos shot a sterling 51.7 percent from the field in the second half, including 6-of-10 from three-point range to help their comeback effort.
The Broncos began cutting into the Huskies' lead in earnest midway through the second half, with Haymond pulling the team to just a single-digit deficit with a pair of free throw makes at the 15:50 mark of the period. David Brown scored two of his 10 points on the team's next trip down the floor to make it 45-38, and Haymond hit a running lay-up with 14:22 remaining to keep the gap at just seven points. Thomas Wilder pulled the Broncos as close they would get for the rest of the game with a spinning jumper in the lane, making it 53-47 with 12:05 to go, but Northeastern responded with a 14-4 run to take a 67-51 advantage with 6:13 remaining in the game.
Haymond drilled a three-pointer with 3:43 remaining to jumpstart the Broncos' last gasp effort to come back, making it 67-57, and Richie drained one less than a minute later to make it just an eight-point game with 2:41 left. Richie made two more treys down the stretch, cutting it to 73-66 with 1:26 remaining and 75-69 with 55 ticks left, but the Huskies held WMU off and scored six straight to finish the game.
Northeastern hopped on the Broncos early in the game, opening on a 5-0 run and never again giving up the lead. Richie made his first three-pointer of the game to cut the lead to 5-3, but the Huskies eventually built themselves up to a 22-10 lead in the half. Tava pulled the Broncos to within nine points with 7:56 to go in the half, and again with a jumper in the paint at the 3:35 mark to make it 28-19, but Northeastern eventually entered the break with a 10-point advantage after a three-pointer by David Walker with 22 seconds remaining.
