AKRON, Ohio – The Western Michigan men's basketball team fell in their 2015 Mid-American Conference opener on the road, dropping a 72-52 decision to the Akron Zips at James A. Rhodes Arena on Tuesday. With the loss, the Broncos fall to 9-5 overall on the season, 0-1 in MAC play. They will next be in action on Saturday, Jan. 10 when they host the Buffalo Bulls at University Arena.
Tucker Haymond produced a 21-point effort in the loss, going 7-of-12 from the field and 5-of-7 from three-point range against the Zips. David Brown also broke double-digits in scoring, notching 14 points to go with five rebounds and four assists before fouling. The Broncos were out-rebounded 39-29 by Akron but did a fine job protecting the basketball, committing just 10 turnovers; WMU has committed 10 or fewer turnovers in four of their last five games.
The Zips carried the action early on, though the Broncos did hold the lead briefly thanks to a Haymond three-pointer from deep in the left corner to make it 3-2. The Zips took a 14-5 lead at the 14:21 mark thanks to a three-pointer from Deji Ibitayo from the head of the key, and the lead reached 10 points after a spinning hook-shot from Pat Forsythe in the paint to make it 18-8.
The Broncos fought their way back to within just a few possessions, though, as Haymond caught fire from the perimeter and drilled four straight three-point makes. He knocked down the first at the 5:59 mark to make it 26-17, and made another on the next trip down to hold the Akron advantage at nine points. Haymond let it fly from the left wing at the 4:58 mark to cut the deficit to eight points, and the sophomore wing from Seattle bombed one final trey from the left wing to make it 31-26 with 4:33 remaining. The Zips pushed the lead back to double-digits before the break, though with Isaiah Johnson laying one in with 17 seconds remaining to make it 40-30 at the break.
Akron opened things back up in the second half, though, with Jake Kretzer giving the Zips a 20-point advantage after a three-pointer from the right corner with 15:39 left in regulation. Brown cut the Zips' lead to 60-42 with a three-pointer from the left wing at the 10:47 mark but the Broncos could get no closer for the time being as Akron pulled back ahead by more than 20 points. Haymond picked up his 20th point of the evening with an and-one make at the 7:47 mark, taking a feed from Austin Richie and pulling for the floater in the paint to make it 69-46. The sophomore completed the old-fashioned three-point play with a free throw make to cut the deficit to 22 points.
Mario Matasovic cut the deficit back to 20 points with a lay-up off a back door pass from Connar Tava, and Tava aided the cause with two free throw makes to make it 69-51 at the 5:30 mark. Kretzer took a back door pass and threw it down for a dunk to push the lead back up to 20 points, and the Zips held on for a 72-52 victory.
