KALAMAZOO, Mich. - The Western Michigan men's basketball team turned away a furious charge from their in-state rivals in the second half, and the Broncos defeated the Central Michigan Chippewas 75-72 at University Arena on Saturday. With the win, the Broncos improve to 12-8 on the season and 5-3 in Mid-American Conference play.
WMU dominated the first half of the game, leading by as many as 23 points and holding a 42-25 lead at halftime. However, the Chippewas battled back and briefly held a one-point lead with 2:30 remaining in regulation. David Brown made a pair of free throws to put the Broncos ahead for good, though, and Tucker Haymond opened it up to a three-point game with a lay-up off a feed from Brown. CMU's John Simons cut the deficit to one point with 15 seconds remaining on a three-point shot, but the Broncos broke the Chippewas' press and Austin Richie laid it in with seven seconds remaining to seal the win.
Brown led the way for the Broncos with 20 points on 6-of-13 shooting, as well as a 7-of-8 day from the free throw line; he also recorded seven rebounds, a career-high four assists, and four steals. Shayne Whittington had 14 points and a game-high eight rebounds. Four different bench players contributed on the score sheet for the Broncos, including Kellen McCormick, who had a bench-high six points, and Mario Matasovic, who finished with five.
The game began with an 8-0 Bronco run, highlighted by four points from Whittington and capped with a fast break lay-up from Brown at the 17:08 mark of the period. Brown upped the lead to 10 points with another fast break make, stealing the ball from Austin Stewart and going coast-to-coast to make it a 15-5 advantage. Whittington threw down a dunk with 9:40 remaining to increase the Bronco lead to 11 points, and Brown drained an open 3 from the right wing on the next possession to give the Broncos a 23-9 lead with 9:08 remaining in the first half.
Richie and McCormick were the next to strike for the Broncos, with each making three-pointers to bring the lead to 29-9. AJ Avery topped things off with a mid-range jumper with 6:06 remaining before Chris Fowler stopped the five-minute Chippewa drought with a pair of free throws. Mario Matasovic made a baseline dunk at the 3:33 mark to give the Broncos a 40-17 lead, their largest of the day, but the Chippewas would score eight of the final 10 points of the half to make it a 42-25 game at the break.
The lead continued to hover around that mark early in the second half, with Richie drilling a three-pointer from the left wing to make it 53-35 with 14:18 to play in regulation. The Chippewas clawed back in, though, cutting the deficit to fewer than 10 points with a three-pointer from John Simons at the 9:08 mark. It became a two-possession game for the first time on a lay-up from Blake Hibbitts at the 6:33 mark, and CMU finally took the lead with a pair of free throws from Fowler with 2:30 remaining. However, Brown re-took the lead for the Broncos with a pair of free throw makes on the next possession, and WMU iced the win on the shot from Richie.
