BUFFALO, N.Y. – The Western Michigan men's basketball team held a halftime lead on the road and got a Herculean effort from
David Brown, but the Broncos fell to the Buffalo Bulls 77-71 at Alumni Arena on Tuesday night. With the loss, the Broncos fall to 13-7, 4-3 in Mid-American Conference play. WMU will be back in action on Saturday, Jan. 31 when they travel to face the Eastern Michigan Eagles in Ypsilanti; tip-off is scheduled for 12 p.m.
David Brown scored a game-high 29 points on 11-of-18 shooting from the field, including a 5-of-9 performance from three-point range. Thomas Wilder contributed 12 points and five rebounds in his second career start, and Connar Tava posted 11 points, five rebounds, and five assists. The Broncos shot 27-of-54 from the field for a 48.2 percent field goal percentage but struggled to protect the basketball, committing 18 turnovers while forcing just eight.
The Broncos took a 5-2 lead to open the game, with Brown making a three from the right corner off a baseline out-of-bounds play at the 17:48 mark, and Wilder chipped in a bucket on the next offensive possession with a leaning runner from the left side. The Bulls jumped out to an 8-5 lead but Tucker Haymond countered with a three from the right wing, coming off a strong screen by Tava and draining the open shot to tie it up. Buffalo led 14-8 with 14:44 to play, but Wilder cut into the advantage with a jumper off an inbounds play 30 seconds later, and Haymond made it just 14-12 when he tossed a prayer of a jumper over the defense on the Broncos' next possession.
WMU went on a 10-0 run to take the lead midway through the half, holding the Bulls scoreless for 3:37 and making a number of clutch shots. Mario Matasovic got things going with a backdoor cut and lay-up at the 10:53 mark, and Wilder made his first of two three-pointers in the half on the next possession, draining one from just beyond the key to make it a 21-20 Buffalo advantage. The Bronocs broke through to re-take the lead when Brown banked a shot off the glass from the left wing to make it 22-21, and the senior guard capped the 10-0 run with a three-pointer from the right corner at the 8:37 mark to make it 25-21. Buffalo pulled to within 32-31 late in the half, but Wilder knocked down his second trey of the half to ultimately give WMU the 35-33 lead at the break.
The Bulls took the lead early in the second half and held onto it for good at the 12:58 mark, going ahead on a fast break lay-up by Jarryn Skeete. The lead went all the way to 14 points after Xavier Ford made a three-pointer to make it 66-52 at the 5:05 mark, but the Broncos battled and cut the lead to two possessions with under a minute to play. Taylor Perry made it 73-65 with a baseline drive and a lay-up, and Tava cut it to six points after Brown swiped the ball from Shannon Evans and dished it ahead for the lay-up. Brown tipped in another shot with 1.9 seconds remaining to set the final deficit at 77-71.
