Second overtime loss for WMU men’s basketball team
Bryan E. Paas
Staff Reporter
Wednesday’s game against MAC leading Akron would prove to be bitter sweet for senior guard Mike Douglas.
Douglas would break Billy Stanbeck’s career record of 428 assists, as the Broncos fell 70-67 in overtime. It was the 2nd overtime loss of the season for the Broncos and puts them at 3rd in the West division, 2 games back of Eastern Michigan.
The Zips quickly jumped out to a 10-6 lead with 15:57 left in the first half scoring on 5 of their first 8 possessions.
Despite the fast start by the Zips, the Broncos continued to battle and would take the lead when freshmen point guard Austin Richie came in and scored on a contested left handed layup to put the Broncos on top 14-12 with 11:40 left to go in the half.
The Broncos lead was built on their effective rebounding. Dan Loney and Shayne Whittington would lead the Broncos in rebounding in the first half pulling down four apiece. The Broncos pulled down 25 total rebounds in the first half doubling Akron’s total of 10. The Broncos were able to limit the second shot opportunities allowing Akron only 9 baskets.
The Broncos would go into the second half up by 9 at 31-22, in large part due to the play of Mike Douglas. Douglas would have 9 points and 5 assists in the half. The Broncos would come out strong on the boards again in the second half. In their first possession they would pull down three offensive boards before Akron was finally able to corral the ball.
On the scoring end the Broncos started a little sluggish. Akron would go on an eight to four run to trail the Broncos 35-29. With 13:55 to go Matt Stainbrook would be called on a loose ball foul while diving for the ball in the Broncos back court. The foul would give the Zips the ball and allow them to extend their run to a 10 to four run with 13:40 left in the game.
After two Mike Douglas free throws, the Broncos would go up 37-31 before Brian Walsh knocked down a 3 to pull the Bronco lead with in 3. After a Brandon Pokely 3 put the Broncos back up six, Walsh again would answer with another long jumper for two to cut the lead to just 4 with 11:52 remaining.
The Broncos would maintain the lead until the 7:10 mark when Alex Abreu tied the game up by splitting a pair of free throws.
The lead would go back and forth until late in the game with 3:11 left to go and the score tied at 53. Whittington would be fouled with 3:11 to go and would complete a 3 point play to put the Broncos up 56-53.
The Broncos would hold the Zips on defense and would come down and score on their next possession to go up 58-53 with 2:28 remaining. Akron would call time out to run a designed to Brett McLanahan who would miss a 3 pointer from the top of the key.
With 1:29 left Quincy Diggs would step to the line making both free throw attempts after a Nate Hutcheson foul. The following possession would be stolen from the Broncos on the inbound and Akron would capitalize to cut the lead to one with a minute remaining.
Akron would take back the lead at 59-58 with 25:03 seconds remaining when Zeke Marshall dropped in a layup from under the basket.
Following a Bronco timeout on the ensuing possession, Whitfield would be fouled with 7.8 seconds left and would split free throws making his first to tie the game up at 59.
In overtime Akron would strike first with a layup by Diggs. Akron would lead 63-61 before Whitfield tied it up with a contested layup at the 2:23 mark.
Akron would go up 66-63 with 1:33 to go after a Quincy Diggs 3 point play. With 1:24 to play Whitfield would split a pair of free throws to cut the Zips lead to two at 66-64.
Quincy Diggs would eventually put the game away for the Zips when he was fouled with 2 seconds remaining. He would split his free throws to give the Zips a 70-67 lead. Whitfield would have a final full court heave that would miss.
The Broncos next game will be at Buffalo this Saturday at 6 p.m.
Short URL: http://www.westernherald.com/?p=29476
Posted by njstrehl
on Feb 8 2012. Filed under Breaking, Sports.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0.
You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
Nora Strehl
Loading ...
