KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Forty minutes was not enough between Western Michigan men's basketball and Central Michigan as the two rivals needed overtime before the Broncos pulled out an 83-81 victory over the Chippewas on Tuesday night inside University Arena.

In overtime the game came down to the final seconds as CMU held the ball with 14 seconds remaining and trailing by two. CMU's Shawn Roundtree drove to the left side of the hoop and got off a shot that was blocked out of bounds by sophomore Reggie Jones with five seconds left.

On the ensuing inbound, CMU's Kevin McKay got off a shot as time expired that bounced off the right side of the rim as the raucous crowd of nearly 3,000 inside University Arena erupted in a Bronco victory.

The Broncos grabbed the one-point lead in OT with 14 seconds left after senior guard Thomas Wilder drove to the hoop and converted on the and-one to put the Broncos up two. Wilder scored 11 of WMU's 14 points in overtime. WMU trailed by two with one minute left in OT before sophomore Reggie Jones connected on a three-pointer from the right corner to give the Broncos the lead.

With the victory, WMU improves its overall record to 16-12 and 8-7 in Mid-American Conference play. It's a quick turnaround for the Broncos playing on Friday, Feb. 23 on ESPN2 against MAC West foe Ball State at 9:00 p.m.

Wilder nearly recorded a triple-double against the Chippewas, finishing with a game-high 22 points along with 10 rebounds and nine assists. Wilder was 6-of-13 from the field and a perfect 9-of-9 from the free-throw line. The senior guard has now made 22 straight free-throws and is just 30 points away from reaching 2,000 career points.

Sophomore Brandon Johnson recorded his second double-double of the season on Tuesday with 13 points and 12 rebounds. Johnson was 5-of-11 from the field while also tying his career-high with three blocks.

Johnson and Wilder become the first Bronco duo to register double digit rebounds since Johnson and senior Drake LaMont did so against Marygrove last season.

Junior Bryce Moore was the Broncos second leading scorer with 17 points on a career-high five three-pointers. Moore in the past two games has been an offensive spark for WMU scoring 32 points on 8-of-17 shooting from long distance.

Off the bench, sophomore Reggie Jones poured in 10 points with four rebounds, two assists and two steals. Junior Seth Dugan continued his stellar play off the bench as well producing four points and five rebounds.

Western Michigan outrebounded CMU, 44-39 and held a 13-9 advantage on the offensive glass. CMU outshot WMU from the field, 41.2 percent to 40.5 percent but the Broncos got hot in overtime, shooting 80 percent compared to CMU's 55.6 percent.

After leading 39-33 heading into halftime, the Chippewas clawed their way back in the second half to tie the game with one-minute remaining. With under 30 seconds left in the game, CMU had a chance to tie the game at 69 before Roundtree's pass was stolen by Jones who was fouled and headed to the free-throw line. With 10 seconds left, Jones missed the front end of a one-and-one with CMU racing down the court and drawing a foul with five seconds remaining.

Once CMU made both free-throws, the Broncos quickly moved up the court with Wilder getting off a shot from the right wing that fell just short. It was WMU's first overtime game of the season while it was the third OT game for Central Michigan.  

In the first half the Bronco offense was cruising, shooting 48.4 percent from the field while knocking down five three-pointers. WMU led 39-33 at the break for the third consecutive game. As a team WMU recorded six blocks on the night, the most since registering seven against Northwood on Nov. 25.