TOLEDO, OHIO – On the road Saturday night the Western Michigan men's basketball team was unable to rally late after a cold shooting performance in the second half, falling to Toledo 67-59 inside John F. Savage Arena.

Offensively the Broncos were led by redshirt junior Brandon Johnson who registered a career-high 23 points on 8-fo-19 shooting from the field. In 35 minutes of action Johnson posted six rebounds and was a perfect 6-for-6 from the free-throw line.

It's the fifth career 20-point game for Johnson and the fourth this season. It was the first 20-point performance for Johnson since scoring 20 back on Nov. 12 against Mississippi Valley State.

For the 19th straight game junior Michael Flowers scored in double figures with 13 points on 5-of-15 shooting from the field. The Southfield, Mich., native was just 1-of-8 from the three-point line along with one rebound, one assist and one steal.

The Broncos got a stellar performance off the bench from sophomore Patrick Emilien who scored a season-high nine points of 4-of-6 shooting from the field with one three-pointer. Emilien corralled three rebounds with one block and one steal in 19 minutes off the bench against the Rockets.

Freshman B. Artis White ranked fourth on the team with seven points while fellow freshman Titus Wright had three points and junior Rafael Cruz Jr. had four points. Overall WMU saw just six of its nine players to hit the court score against the Rockets.

Overall Western Michigan shot just 36.5 percent from the field including 30.3 percent in the second half. From distance the Broncos matched its season-low with four three-pointers (4-22) and was 1-for-14 from three during the final 20 minutes of play. The Broncos with outrebounded, 46-29 with two Toledo player earning double digit rebounds.

Defensively the Brown & Gold forced Toledo to commit 15 turnovers on the night resulting in 17 points. As a team WMU had just seven turnovers, marking the sixth game this season the Broncos have had under 10 turnovers.

Western Michigan now has an overall record of 8-8 and is 1-2 in Mid-American Conference play. The Broncos return home for two games next week beginning on Tuesday, Jan. 14 against preseason MAC favorite Bowling Green before challenging Kent State on Saturday, Jan. 18.

To begin the game, the Broncos made just one of their first seven field goals with four of the first five points coming from Johnson en route to a 5-5 tie at the 15:30 mark. After the two teams traded baskets the Rockets went on a 9-2 run, connecting on four of their next five field goals to gain a 14-10 advantage.

The Broncos responded midway through the first half making six of their seven field goals highlighted by a three from sophomore Patrick Emilien to tie the game at 21 with 8:10 left in the first half. After a run from the Rockets, WMU went on a 9-2 run late in the first half to take a 30-28 lead.

However, down the stretch WMU made just one of its final seven field goals as the Broncos and Rockets were tied at 32-32 heading into the locker room.

Toledo raced out of the gate to begin the second half, scoring four straight points to regain a 36-32 lead. WMU cut its deficit down to three at the 12:29 mark as the Rockets went scoreless from the field during a three-minute stretch.

Over the next five minutes of play the Bronco offense stalled as Toledo embarked on a 12-2 run to grab a 52-40 lead. During the Rocket run the Broncos were held scoreless from the field with its first field goal coming after a dunk from Johnson.

The Broncos looked to rally late making three of four from the field and forcing back-to-back turnovers from Toledo to cut their deficit down to single digits. Freshman B. Artis White knocked down a right wing three to cut the Toledo lead down to 64-57 with 45 seconds left before the Rockets secured the game with a trio of free-throws for the victory.