BOWLING GREEN, Ohio –
Thomas Wilder set a career-high with 16 points on the road, but it was not enough for victory as the Western Michigan men's basketball team fell 65-49 to the Bowling Green State Falcons at the Stroh Center on Tuesday. With the loss, the Broncos fall to 14-10 on the season, 5-6 in Mid-American Conference play.
Wilder went 6-of-9 from the field, including a 3-of-5 mark from the three-point arc, to set a new career-high in scoring with 16 points. The freshman point guard also added five rebounds and three steals in the loss. David Brown finished with nine points, and Tucker Haymond tied for the game-high with six rebounds.
The Broncos struggled to shoot from the floor, finishing 17-of-50 for a 34.0 field goal percentage while allowing the Falcons to shoot 43.9 percent. WMU led the way in points in the paint with 24 compared to Bowling Green's 22, but a 27-15 advantage in points off turnovers helped seal the win for the Falcons.
The Falcons opened the game on a 5-0 run capped by a Delvin Dickerson three-pointer, but Wilder responded with a trey of his own from the corner to cut the lead to two points. Wilder cut the Falcons' lead to 8-6 at the 14:20 mark with another triple, this one from the left wing, and David Brown made it 10-9 with an old-fashioned three-point play after stealing a ball on defense and drawing contact from Jehvon Clarke on the fast break.
Bowling Green took a 15-9 lead, but the Broncos went on a 5-0 run of their own to pull within a single point. Kellen McCormick made a 15-foot jumper off a shot fake to cut the deficit to 15-11, and Wilder made his third three-pointer of the half after Tucker Haymond drew an offensive foul from Zack Denny, turning what had been an empty possession into three points at the 10:41 mark of the half. Brown cut it to 17-16 when Richaun Holmes' attempted block was ruled goaltending at the 7:35 mark, but the Falcons pulled ahead with a 6-0 run, capping it with a jumper by David Joseph jumper and forcing the Broncos into calling a timeout. Tava snapped a long field goal drought with a lay-up at the 2:39 mark and Brown drained a three from the head of the key on the Broncos' final possession, but the Falcons carried a 34-22 advantage into the halftime break.
Things started out well for the Broncos in the second half, though, with Tava scoring a lay-up on the team's opening possession and Wilder stripping the ball from Zack Denny on the ensuing defensive possession, rushing the length of the court and dropping it in to make it 34-26 with 18:51 remaining. Bowling Green followed that up with a 7-0 run, taking a 41-26 lead after an Anthony Henderson jumper from the left corner. Wilder cut the Falcons' lead to 46-32 with a drive and reverse lay-up on the baseline, and made it 48-34 with 10:55 to play when he pulled down a defensive rebound and rushed it the length of the floor for a make.
The Falcons kept the Broncos at arms' length for the remainder of the half, taking a 56-39 lead with 6:26 remaining on a Holmes lay-up and going up 20 points thanks to a three-pointer from Spencer Parker at the 5:17 mark. Both teams looked to their benches the rest of the way, with Bowling Green holding on for the win.
