CONWAY, S.C. – Opening up play at the 11^th annual Puerto Rico Tip-Off at Myrtle Beach, the Western Michigan men's basketball team fell to Tulsa, 81-74 on Thursday night at the HTC Center. WMU will square off with Appalachian State on Friday at 5:00 p.m. on ESPNU.

Despite the loss, the Broncos got a career performance from junior Josh Davis who poured in a career-high 14 points along with matching his career-high in rebounds with eight. Davis on the night went 6-of-11 from the field and knocked down two threes'.

For the third straight game, senior Thomas Wilder was the leading scorer for the Broncos with 19 points. Wilder also collected seven assists, four rebounds and three steals. Right behind Wilder was Davis with 14 followed by junior Bryce Moore with 13 points and sophomore Brandon Johnson with 11.

It's the third straight game WMU has had at least three players score in double figures. Junior Seth Dugan contributed to the Bronco offense with nine points and seven rebounds, three of which were offensive.

As a team, the Broncos out rebounded Tulsa, 42-41 and nearly tripled the Golden Hurricane in offensive rebounds, 21-8. WMU shot just 28.2 percent in the first half but rallied back with 42 points in the second half while shooting 45 percent from the field. In the second half, WMU registered eight threes'.
WMU will play Appalachian State on Friday at 5:00 p.m. on ESPNU. Earlier on Thursday, Appalachian State lost to Iowa State, 104-98.

Tulsa never trailed in the contest as they shot a staggering 53.3 percent from the field in the first half. The Golden Hurricane had a 16-7 lead at the 12-minute mark of the first half before extending their lead to double digits with a 9-0 run. Overall, it was an 18-2 run that gave Tulsa a 27-9 lead with seven minutes remaining in the first.  

Down the stretch of the first half the WMU offense started to heat up, embarking on a 6-0 run with four points coming from Davis to cut into the Golden Hurricane lead. However, Tulsa responded back with a 6-0 run of their own to once again lead by double digits. During the final two minutes of the first half both teams combined to go a staggering 8-of-10 from the field to help Tulsa own a 43-27 lead at halftime.

The Broncos inched closer in the second half as WMU made five of their first seven field goals to trim the lead to 12 at the second media timeout. After a scoreless drought of nearly three minutes, Davis rescued the Broncos with five straight points to make it a ten-point game with 7:30 remaining.

WMU got the game to single digits with 1:30 remaining after knocking down three straight three-pointers, with two coming from Moore. A 15-foot jumper by Brandon Johnson cut the Tulsa lead to seven but it was too late as Tulsa survived the Bronco rally to secure the 81-74 victory. WMU connected of four of their final five shots and outscored Tulsa, 47-38 in the second half.