Men’s basketball rolls past University at Buffalo

(Left to right) Western Michigan University’s Donald Lawson and David Kool hand-off the ball against the University at Buffalo Monday. The Broncos defeated the Bulls 85-70. Jo Wei Looi/Western Herald

By Katrina Murphy
Sports Editor

The Western Michigan University men’s basketball team (12-9, 4-4 Mid-American Conference) returned home Monday evening with a 85-70 victory over Buffalo as senior forward Martelle McLemore busted out of his slump scoring a career-high 24 points.

“It’s a very resilient group of guys that we have and we needed it,” Bronco head coach Steve Hawkins said. “To get this win and salvage a road split, especially after the circumstances at Kent State, is a big win for us.”

The Brown and Gold opened the first half with a 9-3 run as senior guard David Kool contributed five and senior center Donald Lawson put up four, but by the end of the first media timeout, the Bulls had cut WMU’s lead to two, 14-12.

At the 6:09 mark, McLemore hit a three-pointer off an assist from sophomore guard Mike Douglas. In the next Bronco possession, McLemore hit another shot from beyond the arc to lead WMU on a 22-10 run.

“Pretty much the whole team stayed confident in me and told me to keep shooting and today I got the shots to fall,” McLemore said. “It’s a good feeling to see it go in the basket.”

An offensive rebound from sophomore Demetrius Ward led to a quick two points at the buzzer, putting the Brown and Gold in the lead, 47-33, at the half.

In the first 20 minutes of play, the Broncos shot 17-for-29 from the field, including 7-for-14 from beyond the three-point line. They also limited Buffalo to 12-for-28 from the paint.

As play resumed in the second half, both teams traded points; the Bulls came back within 10 after gaining four points on one possession.

With 13 minutes left to play, WMU went on a 14-2 run to up the lead to 22. Propelling the run was McLemore who put up five points in a row with 8:18 left in the game.

At the end of the night, the Broncos finished 31-for-53 in the field, setting a season-high with 11 three-pointers made off of 22 attempts. The Bulls were limited to just 6-of-20 from beyond the arc.

McLemore finished the night with 24 points, nine rebounds and one assist. Kool followed close behind with 23 points after finishing 7-for-13 in the field. Douglas also finished with nine points, two steals and a career-high 10 assists.

WMU returns to University Arena on Thursday to face Miami University of Ohio at 7 p.m.

Short URL: http://www.westernherald.com/?p=14436

Posted by heraldstaff on Feb 3 2010. 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

http://HeraldStaff