Broncos fall to MAC-leading Buffalo, 74-71

By Phill Swanson

(Robert Youngs / Western Herald) Broncos guard Shawntés Gary flies in for a wide-open lay-up against Buffalo on Tuesday. WMU fell, 74-71.

Western Herald

David Kool looked like he was going to take control. It looked like he was going to repeat last year’s overtime dominance against the University at Buffalo.

Then the game ended.

“Every time we got off to a lead, they had an answer and when they got off, we had an answer for them,” head coach Steve Hawkins said. “It just went back and forth and back and forth. Before you knew it, the ball game was over and we were down by three. It looked like this thing could have gone on forever in a similar fashion.”

The back-and-forth fashion of the game resulted in 13 lead changes and four ties before the Broncos (7-12, 4-2 Mid-American Conference) lost, 74-71, to visiting Buffalo (13-5, 5-1 MAC).

Most of the lead changes occurred in the second half, as the Broncos jumped out to an early 12-point lead behind a barrage of three pointers. Michael Redell, Derek Drews and Kool each took turns assaulting the rim.
The Broncos led by 12 with 15 minutes left in the first half. They didn’t relinquish the lead until three minutes before halftime and went in trailing, 36-34.

The Broncos didn’t wait long in the second half to regain the lead. They opened on a 9-2 run, going ahead 45-38 and did not hit a three pointer in the process.

“We came out real emotional and did a great job of throwing the first punch in both halves,” Kool said. “But didn’t do a good job of sustaining it.”

The largest lead the Brown and Gold would have in the second half was seven points. Buffalo, behind a whopping 36 bench points, was able to answer every blow the Broncos threw.

Most of these points came from Buffalo guard Rodney Pierce. Pierce, who was quiet in the first half with only five points, exploded in the second.

“To help my team, I had to be a little more aggressive in the second half,” Pierce said. “So when I got my open looks, I made sure I knocked ’em down.”

Pierce did knock them down. He finished with a game-high 21 points.

“That’s a good player [Pierce] and they’ve got some veteran guys that really step up,” Drews said. “Whether he was scoring or making plays for their team, there’s not a lot you can do when a good player gets the ball in his hands.”

Even with Pierce’s performance, the game was in doubt in the final minutes. With three minutes left, the Western Michigan held a 67-66 lead.

“That’s what it is with almost any team,” Bronco guard Shawntes’ Gary said. “Every game is almost runs. We just need to keep our composure and be able to make some stops at the end. In the second half we didn’t get the stops when we needed them.”

Western Michigan did make some of those stops, but Buffalo was able to pull in offensive rebounds and get second chance layups. On the other hand, the Broncos missed key layups, especially in the first half.

“Their bigs showed their weight advantage,” Hawkins said. “They had anywhere from a 10 to 20 to 30 pound advantage on us. When we did get some stops, they were able to get some offensive rebounds and put backs at key times to get the bleeding to stop.”

The Broncos tried to patch up their wounds with a last second attempt by Kool.

“We had a play set. That was the exact same play we ran to tie the game against Miami [a 78-75 double overtime win on Feb. 12, 2008] and sent it into overtime,” Hawkins said. “We just kind of got tripped up. LaMarcus got tripped up trying to set it, but by then the element of surprise was done and they were able to get a hand in David’s face.”

The shot by Kool looked more like an over the head inbound soccer pass as it shot on a line at the rim.
“It was one of those where you know you got to shoot it at all costs,” Kool said. “At that point in time, there’s two seconds left. You just try and shoot it and put your best effort forth.”

That effort resulted in three Broncos reaching double figures. Kool finished with 20, Gary 12 and Drews added 14.

The Broncos next game is home on Jan. 31 against Kent State University. It is a game Drews is confident will be another battle.

“It was a fight. They came out aggressive we came out aggressive,” Drews said. “I said it last week at Ball State [University], a lot of games are going to be won by four, five or six points.”

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Posted by HeraldAdmin on Jan 27 2009. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

Cody Kimball
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