KALAMAZOO, Mich. – After trailing by double-digits for a large portion of the first half, the Western Michigan men's basketball team made a hard charge before ultimately falling short, 85-76, on Saturday afternoon against Buffalo.
 
Chansey Willis Jr. paced Western Michigan (4-13, 1-4 MAC) in scoring with 21 points, while JaVaughn Hannah was also in double-figures with 16. Willis nabbed a career-high six steals, one away from tying the school record, and handed out five assists. Owen Lobsinger just missed out on his second double-double of the campaign, as he tallied nine points to go with a career-high 14 rebounds.
 
After Willis scored the first basket of the afternoon, Buffalo (6-11, 1-4) notched the next seven points to grab a 7-2 edge. With the margin at 20-17, the Bulls put together a 22-2 surge to expand their lead to 42-19, just past the midway point of the half.
 
Later in the period, the Broncos reeled off nine consecutive points to close the gap to 11, 47-36. After back-to-back UB three-pointers, Hannah nailed a triple of his own at the buzzer to cut the deficit to 53-39 at halftime.
 
Western Michigan kept the momentum from Hannah's buzzer-beater going after the break, as it scored the first 10 points of the second period to close the gap to four, 53-49. During the 13-point run to end the first and start the second half, WMU's defense held Buffalo scoreless for more than seven minutes.
 
With their advantage at 61-56, the Bulls hit back-to-back triples to boost their cushion back into double-digits, 67-56, at the halfway mark of the period. The Brown and Gold clawed their way back to within eight on multiple occasions late in the contest, but could get no closer.
 
The Broncos shot 44.8 percent (30-of-67) for the afternoon, while Buffalo connected on 49.2 percent (29-of-59) from the floor.  
 
Western Michigan continues its homestand on Tuesday evening as it welcomes Northern Illinois to University Arena at 7 pm. For tickets to any WMU men's basketball home game, visit wmubroncos.com/tickets.