MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - The Western Michigan men's basketball team clinched at least a share of its sixth Mid-American Conference regular season championship in program history with a dominating second half on the road, shooting at a blistering pace in the final 20 minutes to defeat the Central Michigan Chippewas 78-64 at McGuirk Arena on Friday. With the win, the Broncos conclude the regular season with a 21-9 record, 14-4 in MAC play.
The win did not just solidify the Broncos' first regular season championship since the 2003-04 season, but also locked up the No. 1 overall seed in the 2014 MAC Tournament in Cleveland, Ohio. The Broncos will receive a triple-bye directly to the semifinal round of the tournament, and will have to win just two games in as many days to earn a trip to the NCAA Tournament.
WMU trailed the Chippewas 38-33 after the first half of play but caught fire in the second half, going 17-of-21 from the field in the last 20 minutes for a sterling 81.0 percent shooting performance. The Broncos out-rebounded the Chippewas 27-23, including a 13-8 advantage in the second half, and forced six CMU turnovers in the second period.
All five Bronco starters reached double figures in scoring, with David Brown leading all scorers in the game with 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting. Connar Tava contributed 15 points, Shayne Whittington and Tucker Haymond each poured in 14 points, and Austin Richie added 13 points to the scorebook. Haymond pulled down a game-high seven rebounds, while Whittington corralled six caroms and notched a game-high five assists.
The Broncos trailed by five points entering the halftime break and at one point faced a seven-point hole, as the Chippewas opened up a 48-41 lead with 15:38 lead remaining in the game. Richie sparked the Broncos to a 15-0 run to take the lead midway through the half, opening the rush with a three-pointer from the deep right wing to make it 48-44. Richie banged home another triple on the next possession to cut the deficit to one point, and WMU took the lead for good on a Whittington baseline jumper at the 13:01 mark.
David Brown drilled an NBA-range three-pointer from behind a screen at the 11:16 mark to push the Broncos' lead to 54-48, and Tava capped the run with a drive and make less than a minute later to extend the lead to eight points. The advantage reached double-digits for good with 6:40 to play, after Brown drained another trey to make it 63-52. Brown gave the Broncos their biggest lead of the night with 2:08 to play, making a three-pointer with the shot clock down to one second to make it 76-60. WMU cleared the bench in the final minutes of the game, and wrapped the game with a lay-up make by Mario Matasovic before heading off for a locker room celebration.
The Chippewas came out fired up in the first half, taking the lead midway through and holding onto it for much of the period. Austin Stewart gave CMU a 10-4 advantage at the 16:11 mark with a lay-up, but the Broncos promptly scored nine straight points and took the advantage on a jumper by Whittington in the paint. Chris Fowler tied the score at 22 with 8:04 to play in the half, and the Chippewas took the lead for the remainder of the half when Spencer Krannitz made a three-pointer from the left corner. CMU led by seven points with less than a minute remaining, but Tava made a lay-up with 30 seconds left to cut the lead to five points at the half.
