KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Fueled by a Jayden Brewer double-double and a raucous crowd of 4,776, the Western Michigan men's basketball team took down rival Central Michigan, 77-65, on Saturday evening at University Arena. Saturday's attendance was the first in excess of 4,000 at University Arena since the March 3, 2017, battle with the Chippewas brought in a crowd of 4,194.
 
Brewer paced Western Michigan (8-12, 2-6 MAC) in both points (20) and rebounds (11) to collect his fifth double-double of the season. The senior was joined in double-figures by EJ Ryans (15) and Justice Williams (14). Max Burton nearly recorded a double-double of his own, notching nine points and nine rebounds.
 
Central Michigan (5-15, 1-7) got out to a 17-9 advantage in the early stages of the contest. The Broncos answered with 10 of the next 13 to close the gap to 20-19. At 27-25, Western Michigan rattled off a 10-2 run to go ahead, 35-29, and took a 35-31 edge into halftime.  
 
The visitors tied it up at 35-35 in the opening moments of the second half, but a 10-1 run helped WMU claim a 45-36 advantage with just over 13 minutes remaining. CMU worked its way as close as 47-43, but a 7-1 spurt put the Brown and Gold ahead by double-digits for the first time, 54-44 at the 8:40 mark. A few minutes later, Williams drilled a three-pointer to make it 59-47, and Western Michigan kept the Chippewas at arm's length for the remainder of the evening.
 
The Broncos connected on 24-of-54 (44.4 percent) of their field goals for the evening while limiting Central Michigan to 21-of-58 (36.2 percent) from the floor and 4-of-23 (17.4 percent) from three-point range.
 
Western Michigan hits the road for its next three contests, starting Tuesday evening in DeKalb, Ill., against NIU. Tip between the Broncos and Huskies is slated for 8 pm on ESPN+.