OXFORD, Miss. – The Western Michigan men's basketball team dropped its first contest of the season on Friday night falling to the University of Mississippi, 85-58 inside The Pavilion at Ole Miss.

The Broncos were led offensively by redshirt junior Brandon Johnson, who matched his career high with 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field. Johnson was also 2-of-4 from long distance while collecting four rebounds. In the past three games, Johnson is averaging 20.6 points per game.

Ranking second on the team was junior Michael Flowers with 14 points in 33 minutes of action. The reigning Mid-American Conference West Division Player of the Week was 4-of-15 from the field with one three-pointer, four rebounds and three assists. The Southfield, Mich., native was 5-of-6 from the free-throw line.

As a duo, Flowers and Johnson combined to score 35 of WMU's 58 points against the Rebels, accounting for 60.3 percent of the offense. From the field the two juniors combined to go 12-for-27 (.445).

Redshirt sophomore Jason Whitens led the Broncos on the glass with seven rebounds to go along with four points, two assists and one steal. Off the bench, junior Kawanise Wilkins posted six points and three rebounds in 21 minutes of action.

As a team the Brown & Gold shot 33.9 percent from the field and was just 5-of-32 from behind the three-point line. Heading into the game, WMU ranked first in the NCAA in free-throws made and attempted and went 13-of-17 from the charity stripe against Ole Miss.

WMU dropped its first game of the season and now has an overall record of 3-1, its best start since 2014. The Broncos return to action at home on Tuesday, Nov 19 at 7:00 p.m. against Alma College.

It was a great start to the game for WMU, racing out to a 7-2 lead and forcing Ole Miss to call a timeout after a pair of made free-throws. WMU extended its lead to 12-5 at the 14-minute mark after a three from Flowers, his only three-pointer of the night.

With under 10 minutes to play the Broncos held a three-point lead as WMU went 2-of-10 from the field during a three-minute stretch.  A little past the midway point of the first half, the Rebels earned their first lead of the game after embarking on a 20-2 run to hold a 28-18 advantage with four minutes to play.

The Broncos responded with a run of their own, going on a 6-0 run, with five points coming from Johnson, to cut its deficit down to four. To end the half, Flowers connected on a fadeaway jumper to close the Bronco deficit to four once again before Ole Miss made two-of-three free-throws to end the first half and take a 40-32 lead into the locker room.

To begin the second half, freshman B. Artis White connected on his lone three-pointer of the night cut the Ole Miss lead down to 40-35 before the Rebels embarked on an 8-0 run to extend their lead to double digits.

In the second half Ole Miss shot a staggering 54.5 percent from the field and forced WMU to commit 13 turnovers, scoring 19 points off of Bronco turnovers. The Broncos shot just 36 percent from the field and 12.5 percent from long distance in the second half as the Rebels outscored WMU 45-26 during the final 20 minutes of play to secure the victory.