KENT, Ohio. – The Western Michigan men's basketball team surrendered 53 second half points as the Broncos suffered an 80-54 loss to Kent State on Saturday afternoon inside the Memorial Athletic & Convocation Center.  

The two teams were tied at 27 to begin the second half and WMU gained a 34-33 lead with 17 minutes remaining. After taking the lead, Kent State outscored the Broncos 47-21 as the Golden Flashes shot 59.5 percent from the field in the second half.

Sophomore guard B. Artis White was the lone Bronco to score in double figures against Kent State with 12 points. White was 4-of-10 from the field and had two three-pointers while going 2-of-2 from the free-throw line. The Canton, Mich., native also recorded four rebounds and two assists. It's the sixth straight game in which White has scored in double figures.

Behind White was senior Greg Lee with nine points on 4-of-8 shooting from the field. Lee also poured in four rebounds to go along with two assists and one steal. Redshirt junior Jason Whitens corralled four rebounds to go along with eight points on a stellar 4-of-5 shooting from the field.

Earning his first start of the season and 13th of his career, junior forward Patrick Emilien led the Broncos with five rebounds. Emilien also registered four points and one steal in 16 minutes of action. Coming off the bench sophomore Titus Wright earned six points with four coming from the free-throw line.

In 24 minutes senior Rafael Cruz Jr. had three points along with three rebounds and a team-high three assists. Late in the second half junior Danny Kolp provided valuable minutes off the bench scoring a season-high four points on 2-of-3 shooting from the field in nine minutes.

As a team the Broncos shot 39.1 percent from the field but was just 4-of-21 from long distance. Western Michigan was outrebounded 37-28 with Kent State earning a 12-7 advantage on the offensive glass. WMU scored 24 of its 54 points in the paint while Kent State earned 44 of its 80 points in the paint.

Western Michigan now has an overall record of 2-7 and 1-3 in Mid-American Conference play. The Broncos will look to snap their three-game losing streak at home on Tuesday, Jan. 12 against Buffalo. Tip-off is set for 2:00 p.m. inside University Arena.

It was a fast start by the Golden Flashes, jumping out to a 7-0 lead just three minutes into the game. Western Michigan missed its first four field goals before embarking on a 6-0 run to cut its deficit down to one. The 6-0 run was highlighted by four points from redshirt junior Jason Whitens.

WMU ultimately went on a 15-2 run after a Cruz Jr. offensive rebound and put back to give the Broncos 15-8 lead at the halfway point of the first half. Both offenses slowed to a halt over the next two minutes prior to a Kent State three-pointer to trim the Bronco lead down to 15-11 with 7:45 remaining.

The Broncos led by nine with 4:30 to play prior to a flurry of points from Kent State that gave KSU its second lead the day. The Golden Flashes went on a 10-0 over the next three minutes to earn a 23-22 lead with two of its four baskets coming from long distance.

KSU extended its run to 14-3 and held a 27-24 advantage with 41 seconds remaining. Towards the end of the half, senior Greg Lee drilled a corner three-pointer to tie the game at 27 as both teams headed to the locker room.

To begin the second half Kent State rattled off the first four points before the Broncos rallied back to regain the lead. After a three-pointer from B. Artis White, WMU took a 34-33 lead with 17:08 remaining. The two teams traded baskets over the next three minutes as Kent State had a 37-36 lead at the first media timeout of the second half.

The Golden Flashes offense got hot midway through the second half making nine of their next 10 field goals and embarking on a 21-5 run to gain a 62-43 lead. Kent State had a 70-45 lead with 5:54 remaining thanks to a 29-7 run and earned its largest lead of the game of 31 after WMU went scoreless for nearly three minutes.   

During the final two minutes of play Western Michigan got baskets from Patrick Emilien, Daylan Hamilton and Luke Toliver as Kent State secured an 80-54 victory.