INDIANAPOLIS – The Western Michigan men's basketball team fell victim to an early second-half run in an 85-65 loss at Butler on Monday night at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
Donovan Williams nearly posted a double-double, leading the Broncos (1-2) in both scoring (17) and rebounding (9). The graduate student went a perfect 9-for-9 from the foul line.
Joining Williams in double-figures were
JaVaughn Hannah (15) and
EJ Ryans (10).
Owen Lobsinger tallied eight points and grabbed six rebounds. Hannah also picked up a career-high four steals.
Hannah scored the first five points of the contest to give Western Michigan an early edge. Butler (2-1) answered with a 14-5 run to move ahead, 14-10. A six-point burst then put the Broncos back in front, 16-14.
The Bulldogs briefly pulled ahead, 18-16, and the two teams then proceeded to trade points until four straight WMU free throws put the visitors back on top, 29-27, with just over six minutes to go in the half. Butler then used an 8-2 stretch to wrestle the lead back, 37-33. An
EJ Ryans basket got the Brown and Gold back to within two, 39-37, heading into the break.
Butler reeled off 16 of the first 18 points after the intermission to open up a 55-39 advantage. Western Michigan countered with a 15-2 run, the last 10 of which came consecutively, to close the gap to 57-54 just shy of the midway point of the half.
The Bulldogs answered with a 10-2 stretch to push their lead back into double-digits, 67-56. A Williams old-fashioned three-point play trimmed the margin down to eight, 67-59, with 7:59 to play, but WMU could get no closer for the remainder of the evening.
The Broncos shot 31.1 percent (23-of-74) from the floor, while Butler connected on 56.0 percent (28-of-50) from the field. Western Michigan went 15-for-17 (88.2 percent) at the free throw line. The Brown and Gold were also plus-six in turnover margin, turning it over just five times while forcing the Bulldogs into 11 miscues. The five turnovers were WMU's fewest since since Jan. 14, 2023, against Bowling Green.
Western Michigan returns to University Arena this weekend to host the Bronco Classic, a three-day event featuring the Broncos, SIUE and Canisius. WMU's first game of the weekend is Friday evening, as it takes on SIUE at 5 pm. For tickets to any Western Michigan men's basketball home game, visit
wmubroncos.com/tickets.
