KALAMAZOO, Mich. - The Western Michigan men's basketball team rallied from a late deficit to earn a key victory in their final home game of the year, defeating the Northern Illinois Huskies 61-56 at University Arena on Tuesday. With the win, the Broncos improve to 20-9 overall on the season, 13-4 in Mid-American Conference play. Coupled with a Buffalo loss earlier in the evening, the Broncos move into a tie for first place in the overall MAC standings with Toledo; WMU holds the tiebreaker with the Rockets due to a better divisional record this year.
The win also marks the 10th 20-win season in program history, with the majority of those coming under head coach Steve Hawkins. Hawkins has recorded six 20-win seasons in Kalamazoo, including two in a row for the second time in his career. It also wraps a 13-2 home record for the Broncos this season.
Playing in what could be the final home games of their careers, the pair of seniors on the Bronco roster did not fail to deliver in the game's tensest moments. Shayne Whittington finished with a game-high 21 points, including an 11-of-12 mark from the free throw line, and David Brown finished just behind him with 18 points. Connar Tava filled up nearly every column on the stat sheet, finishing with five points, five rebounds, eight assists, and two steals. Jared Klein and Austin Richie each contributed five points.
The Broncos closed out the win with a strong showing at the free throw line, going 18-of-21 in the second half to edge the Huskies late. NIU led 48-43 with 5:14 to play, but WMU cut the lead thanks to a timely three-pointer from Richie at the 4:51 mark and six consecutive made free throws from Brown. Brown took the lead for the Broncos with 3:42 remaining on three free throws after being fouled by Aaric Armstead just beyond the arc, and WMU took a 55-51 lead with 1:41 to play when Whittington buried a pair of tosses from the stripe.
The Huskies tied the score late on a lay-up from Aaron Armstead to make it 55-55 with 46 seconds remaining, but Tava drove the lane on the next possession and handed WMU the lead for good 12 seconds later. Aaric Armstead split a pair of free throws with 25 seconds left to cut the Bronco lead to one point, but Richie drilled a pair from the line on the next posssession, and Whittington made a pair to seal the win.
The first half featured tight defense between the two teams, with neither reaching double-digits in scoring until nearly nine minutes had passed on the clock. WMU held an 11-8 lead when Klein knocked down a three-pointer from the right wing at the 11:07 mark, but Aksel Bolin went on a personal 5-0 run to put the Huskies ahead 13-11. Pete Rakocevic extended the lead again with 7:47 remaining,and NIU led by as many as five points in the half before the Broncos pushed back. WMU went on a 6-0 run that included a driving lay-up from brown and two free throws each from Tava and Whittington to go ahead 22-21 with three minutes to play, but Aaric Armstead gave the Huskies the lead at the half with a hook shot lay-up with 15 seconds to play.
