Box Score DEKALB, Ill.- The Western Michigan men's basketball season came to a close with a 56-50 loss to Northern Illinois in the first round of the Mid-American Conference Tournament Monday.
The Broncos bow out of the tournament as the No. 10 seed, while Northern Illinois, the No. 7 seed, advances to Cleveland, Ohio, to face No. 2 Ohio in the quarterfinals Thursday.
Western Michigan played short-handed and was without the team's leading scorer, sophomore guard
Thomas Wilder a majority of the game. Wilder aggravated a turf-toe injury in the first half and did not take the floor in the second half. He played just 12 minutes and was 0-for-6 from the floor with no points. Wilder had averaged a league-best 20.4 ppg against conference competition this season.
"Without Thomas, it put a lot of pressure on us offensively," WMU head coach
Steve Hawkins said. "Our defense helped us out, we held them to 32 percent shooting and just over 21 percent in the second half. We had our chances but we just didn't have enough punch without him and we couldn't get the ball to drop."
After picking up his third and fourth fouls over the first 90 seconds of the second half, senior
Anthony Avery Jr. was forced to spend much of his final game on the bench as well.
The Broncos played most of the second half with
Bryce Moore,
Taylor Perry,
Tucker Haymond,
Drake LaMont and
Seth Dugan on the floor. Senior
Jared Klein also came in for spells, but overall the Broncos could not get into a groove with the unfamiliar lineup.
Haymond ended up leading Western Michigan with a team-high 17 points, scoring 11 in the second half. LaMont and Dugan each had seven points. Dugan tallied a career-high 11 rebounds.
The Broncos trailed by one at halftime, 31-30, and Northern Illinois never led by more than seven.
With 1:41 remaining, Haymond hit a layup to cut the deficit to two, 49-47. Moore had a chance to tie the game with a pair of free throws on WMU's next possession. Moore missed the first and the second was waved off due to a line violation.
The Broncos were forced to start fouling in the final minute to preserve the clock and the Huskies went 7-for-8 at the line to punch their ticket to Cleveland.
Senior Travon Baker scored a game-high 18 points and freshman Levi Bradley added 13 points and a game-high 12 rebounds for Northern Illinois. The Huskies went 18-1 on their home floor this season and improved their overall record to 21-11.
Western Michigan concludes the 2015-16 campaign with a 13-19 overall record. The Broncos were battle-tested from the first day of the season until the last. WMU played in 22 contests decided by single digits and 15 of WMU's 19 losses were by 10 points or less, including four in overtime. Preseason All-MAC pick and top returning scorer
Connar Tava also sat the season with a medical redshirt due to injury.
"It is easy to throw in the towel and these kids never did that," Hawkins said. "We had a family in the locker room and we kept fighting. That is the kind of stuff kids with high integrity have. People will get tied up with records, but our fans should be proud of this team. These guys really gave everything they had and I am proud of them.
"For our three seniors, Anthony, Jared and Taylor, they got themselves a ring (2014 MAC championship) and they faced adversity this year. They will be well-armed to take on the challenges for the next phase in their lives and will be very successful. That is what sports does for you. Again, I can't say enough about the kind of fight this team had."
