Live from University Arena: WMU vs E. Illinois

The Broncos for the sixth season in a row are competing in ESPNU BracketBusters. At 3-2 all time in the event the Broncos look to get their first win over an opponent from the Ohio Valley Conference. However, this is not the first meeting between the two schools. The Broncos won three games against EIU in the early nineties.

Look for Donald Lawson’s role to continue to grow. Hopefully the Bronco’s rebounding woes from Tuesday don’t rear up and show themselves. More updates at half.

Starting Lineup: Kool, Whitfield, Lowe, Redelle, Gary

18:30 Broncos got the first offensive rebound. Thank God.

11:14 Poor shooting is cramping an otherwise good Bronco effort. The Broncos have three offensive rebounds and Lawson has a put back. The game is is tied at 10. Turnovers are hurting the Broncos as well, five in the first 10 minutes is not a good look.

3:13 The Broncos shooting woes continue. They’re 6-22 from the field and haven’t attempted a free-throw in the half yet. They find themselves down 21-15.

:37.6 The Broncos will likely have the last posession, but still trail 23-17. They need a bucket before the half to build some momentum.

HALF

The Broncos are behind 23-19. Poor shooting and even worse ball handling have helped holed the broncos to under 20 points in 20 minutes. The Broncos did manage to go 4-4 from from the free-throw line by the end of the half. Lawson is making himself felt down low, but Lowe needs to be more physical. Coach Hawkins yelled from the bench “Come on LaMarcus be physical” after giving up an easy basket inside.

EIU is running a 2-3 zone and effectively shutting down the Broncos. If the Broncos can’t break the zone with some dribble penetration or outside shooting it’s going to be a long afternoon.

At least there isn’t a dunk contest looking for handouts as the halftime entertainment.

15:42 The Broncos have opened the half on a 9-4 run and lead 28-29. Kool finally hit another shot. After hitting the opening basket he went scoreless for over 20 minutes.

9:20 What a difference five minutes makes. The Broncos lead 45-40 David Kool seems to have swayed the basketball gods in his favor. After a slow start Kool has scored 16 points in the half. he’s now 5-12 from beyond three and 7-14 overall.  The Broncos as a team are shooting 60 percent on the half and have scored more points in the first 10 minutes of the half than they did in the entire first half.

7:43 The Broncos are on the worse end of a 7-0 run by EIU. A few missed shots and bad fouls have contributed to EIU’s now 47-45 lead. Kool has been on the bench the entire time….

5:54 The Broncos still trail 51-48. Both teams are in the double bonus, which means a lot of free-throws in the last six minutes. Kool is back on the court but has only two free-throws and picked up his 3rd foul.

3:09 The Broncos are down 55-53 with Buffalo on the line. First one missed, second one too.

1:19 Gary is on the line looking to tie the game. He makes both, all tied up at 55.

:08.4 The Broncos had a good look and Gary missed a floater to put them up one. EIU managed to get the ball in the ensuing scrum and call a timeout. The Broncos will foul and try to tie it on the final possession.

FINAL Broncos 57 EIU 59

Kool was able to take the ball the length of the court and get a shot falling away in the lane. It came up short and Lawson nearly had the tip slam. But he was challenged and lost the ball on the follow through.

Short URL: http://www.westernherald.com/?p=4181

Posted by heraldstaff on Feb 21 2009. Filed under Blogs, News, Sports, Sports Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

http://HeraldStaff