OXFORD, Ohio - The Western Michigan men's basketball team gutted out a tough road win on Wednesday, defeating the Miami RedHawks 69-58 at Millett Hall to record their fourth straight win and second straight on the road. With the win, the Broncos improve to 13-5 overall, 4-1 in Mid-American Conference play.
After a difficult first half in which they entered the break trailing by two points, the Broncos turned things on in the second half, returning to their fundamentals to beat the RedHawks on their home floor. WMU shot 42.4 percent from the field in the second half while holding Miami to a 35.3 percent mark in the final 20 minutes, and the Broncos out-rebounded Miami 23-19 in the second half. The Broncos took exception care of the basketball as well, committing just three turnovers in the game and only one in the second half.
Austin Richie led the way with 16 points against the RedHawks by going 4-of-8 from beyond the three-point arc, while Tucker Haymond contributed 15 points and four rebounds. Connar Tava finished one point shy of a second straight double-double, posting nine points and a game-high 10 rebounds, and Drake LaMont posted a line of 10 points, seven rebounds, and a steal.
The Broncos opened the game on a 5-0 run, with Tava punctuating the rally by swiping the ball from Geovonie McKnight on the perimeter and laying it in at the 17:22 mark, but the RedHawks responded with a 17-3 rally that put them ahead by nine points with 10:18 remaining in the half. WMU responded with a 10-0 run of its own, with Richie drilling a pair of three points in the run to pull the Broncos to within one point, and LaMont making a pair of free throws to put his team ahead 18-17 with 5:06 to play. The RedHawks responded, though, and took a two-point lead at the break after McKnight made a runner with 12 seconds remaining to make it 23-21 entering the locker rooms.
Things opened up for the Broncos early in the second half, with WMU re-taking the lead for the first time with a hook shot by LaMont at the 18:50 mark and taking it for good five minutes later when David Brown snaked his way through the Miami line-up and laid it in with 13:24 to go in regulation to make it 37-35. Raymond pushed the lead to eight points at the 10:49 mark by scoring on an and-one after Richie stole a pass on defense and kicked it ahead on the fast break, and Brown gave the Broncos their first 10-point lead of the night with a coast-to-coast rebound-and-drive to make it 56-46. The Broncos played keep-away for most of the rest of the half, finishing the game with an 11-point lead after Haymond made 5-of-6 free throws down the stretch to ensure the result.
