Box Score OXFORD, Ohio- Western Michigan's 61-53 road win over Miami Saturday, coupled with a 65-62 Ball State home loss to Northern Illinois pushed the Broncos into sole possession of first place of the Mid-American Conference West Division.
The Broncos (14-6 overall) are 7-2 over the first nine conference games, halfway through the MAC schedule. Ball State slipped to 6-3 in the MAC with their loss. Ball State is one of two teams, along with Toledo, to defeat WMU this season.
It is the first time since 2008 Western Michigan has been atop the MAC West. Ohio is the East, as well the conference overall leader with a 17-3 overall, 8-1 MAC record. The Bobcats' lone conference loss was to the Broncos in Kalamazoo on Jan. 7, 61-51.
Western Michigan held a 28-26 lead over Miami at halftime and had to hold off the RedHawks' best attempt at an upset. The Broncos never trailed in the second half, but a pair of free throws by Miami's Hannah McCue tied the game at 49-all with 4:29 left in the game. WMU put together a final 12-4 run over the remaining four and a half minutes to surge ahead for the 61-53 victory.
“I learned a long time ago not to complicate winning,” said WMU head coach
Shane Clipfell. “I'm really happy that our team found a way to get this road win against a Miami team that played exceptionally well today. We really felt coming into this game that defense was going to be the deciding factor and take away our first five minutes of the game we played very well on the defensive side.
“We faced a multitude of different defenses and did a great job taking care of the ball. That's our third road win in a row and that's not easy in this league so I like the way we've battled on road thus far.”
Senior
A.J. Johnson scored a game-high 19 points and tied a career-high with five three's, shooting 4-for-4 from behind the arc in the first half. Junior
Miracle Woods battled down low for 17 points and six rebounds and junior
Alex Morton nearly recorded a double-double with 10 points and nine assists, which also tied a career high. Morton had just one turnover.
“We had several players make key contributions,” Clipfell said. “A.J. shot the ball really well and Alex had an incredible game distributing the ball. Miracle was very steady and efficient with her game and logged 30-plus minutes.
Marquisha (Harris) had several key rebounds down the stretch and a huge bucket in crunch time.”
Harris came off the bench to total six points and seven rebounds, with all six of those points and five rebounds coming in the second half. Over the final 2:21 of the game, Harris had a block, a pair of rebounds and hit two jumpers in the paint.
Western Michigan shot 43.1 percent from the field and had just 11 turnovers. The Broncos didn't have one of their better days at the free throw line, shooting just 57.1 percent, going 12-for-21.
Courtney Larson led the RedHawks with 16 points, followed by 13 points by Baleigh Reid. McCue pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds. Miami continues to look for its first MAC win, falling to 0-9 in the conference and 3-17 overall.
WMU's 14 wins surpasses its total of 13 victories from last season. The Broncos have upped their win count in each of Clipfell's three seasons at the helm. WMU has not won 7 of its first 9 MAC games since the 2004 squad went 8-1 over its first nine.
Western Michigan heads to Akron Wednesday for a 7 p.m. tip-off against the Zips. WMU defeated Akron earlier this month in Kalamazoo, 67-61. Akron (16-4, 6-3 MAC) defeated Kent State in their game Saturday, 74-67.
