DEKALB, Ill. – David Brown scored a game-high 26 points, including a 20-point outburst in the first half, and the Western Michigan men's basketball team won its fourth game in its last five with a 74-71 victory over the Northern Illinois Huskies on Sunday. With the win, the Broncos improve to 14-8 on the season, 7-3 in Mid-American Conference play.

Brown gashed the Huskies in the first half by going 7-of-7 from the field for 20 points, nearly single-handedly carrying the Broncos to a halftime lead over the Huskies. Shayne Whittington notched 15 points and a game-high eight rebounds, including a key offensive rebound with eight seconds remaining and the Broncos leading 73-71. Connar Tava scored 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field while also adding seven rebounds and three assists.

The Bronco offense was firing on all cylinders from the get-go, shooting 58.3 percent from the field and 5-of-7 from three-point range in the first half. The Broncos out-rebounded one of the MAC's best rebounding teams by a 37-27 margin, including a 12-9 margin on the offensive glass. Second-chance points also went the way of the Broncos, who out-scored the Huskies 17-13 on tip-ins and offensive rebounds.

Northern Illinois got off to a hot start themselves, taking an eight-point lead with 14:24 left in the first half when Aaron Armstead's three-point shot made it 14-6. Whittington cut into the lead with a three-pointer from the wing, Brown made it 14-11 with a pair of free throw makes, and the Broncos took the lead on a drive and lay-up from Austin Richie that capped the 9-0 run and made it 15-14 with 11:25 left. The teams traded leads back and forth, but Brown took the lead for WMU for good with a three-pointer to make it 30-27 with 3:40 remaining in the half. Brown made a fast-break lay-up with 2:04 remaining to keep the lead and three points, and made it a four-point game at half with another trey with less than a minute remaining to make it 37-33.

WMU bumped the lead up to 10 points in the second half, with Brown drilling a three-pointer from the corner to make it 50-40 with 16:28 remaining in regulation. Kellen McCormick made a pull-up jumper from the right wing with 13:14 remaining to make it a 13-point edge, and McCormick struck again on the next possession with a trey to 63-47. The lead hovered around 10 points until the final four minutes of the game, when the Huskies made their last push at coming back. Armstead cut the game to 73-71 with a steal and a fast break lay-up with 49 seconds remaining, but the Broncos held their ground in the remaining time and got the win.