MUNCIE, Ind. – Anthony Crump made a layup as time expired to lift the Western Michigan men's basketball team to a critical 78-76 overtime victory at Ball State on Saturday.
 
The win gives the Broncos (11-18, 8-8 MAC) a two-game lead over the ninth-place Cardinals (14-15, 6-10) with two games remaining in the regular season. The top-8 teams in the standings head to Cleveland for the Mid-American Conference Tournament.
 
With the contest even at 76-76 with 1.6 seconds to play, WMU had to inbound the ball from under its basket. JaVaughn Hannah launched a pass down court and it got deflected to Crump, who quickly laid it in as time expired to give the Broncos the victory. The win snapped a four-game slide for Western Michigan at Worthen Arena, as it was the first win in Muncie for the Brown and Gold since February of 2018.
 
Crump was one of five Broncos to score in double-figures on Saturday as he netted 12 points on 6-of-7 shooting. Hannah paced Western Michigan in scoring for the second consecutive game with 17 points. Titus Wright made his first five shots from the field on the way to 14 points, B. Artis White contributed 13 points and Jefferson De La Cruz Monegro chipped in with 11.
 
Led by Owen Lobsinger's nine rebounds and seven each from De La Cruz Monegro and White, the Brown and Gold were dominant on the boards all afternoon, as they owned a plus-15 (48-33) rebounding margin, including a 19-10 advantage on the offensive glass. The 48 rebounds and 19 offensive rebounds were the second-highest totals by Western Michigan this season. WMU's dominance inside led to a plus-26 differential (46-20) in points in the paint and plus-16 (26-10) in second-chance points.
 
The two teams went back and forth for the majority of the first half, which featured nine lead changes. The final lead change of the period went in favor of the Broncos, as a pair of baskets by Wright and one from Crump put WMU on top 22-18 with 5:39 remaining. Ball State closed the gap to one, 24-23, but Western Michigan finished the half on an 8-3 run to take a 32-26 cushion into the locker room.
 
Western Michigan tallied the first five points of the second half to boost its advantage into double-digits for the first time, 37-26. Just shy of the halfway mark of the period, the Cardinals worked their way back to within five, 53-48. The Broncos countered with the next seven points, with a Crump jam making it a 60-48 margin in favor of the visitors with eight minutes to play.
 
Ball State did not go away, and it rattled off a 14-2 run which evened the score at 62-62 with less than 90 seconds remaining in regulation. De La Cruz Monegro hit a three-pointer in the final minute for the Broncos, but it was canceled out on the other end and the two teams headed into the extra session all even at 65-65.
 
Western Michigan held a slim edge for much of the extra session until an old-fashioned three-point play put the Cardinals in front, 74-72, with 1:31 to go. On the other end, Seth Hubbard nailed a pair of free throws to tie it, and after a defensive stop, Wright made a layup with 15.3 seconds remaining to put the Brown and Gold ahead, 76-74. On its final possession, BSU drew a foul while shooting a three-pointer and made two of the three attempts at the line to knot the game at 76-76, setting the stage for Crump's heroics.
 
The Broncos shot 45.2 percent (33-of-73) for the contest, while limiting Ball State to 36.1 percent (22-of-61) from the field. WMU limited the Cardinals to just 26.9 percent (7-of-26) from three-point range.  
 
Western Michigan returns to Kalamazoo for its final two games of the regular season, starting on Tuesday night as it welcomes Bowling Green to University Arena at 7 pm. For tickets to any home WMU men's basketball game this season, visit wmubroncos.com/tickets.