KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan men's basketball team never trailed and shot a staggering 70.8 percent in the second half to down in-state rival Central Michigan 76-61 on Friday afternoon inside University Arena.
The Broncos were guided by a stellar performance from senior Greg Lee who earned his first double-double of the season with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Lee was 7-of-10 from the field while also matching his career-high with four assists. Over the past three games Lee has averaged 16.0 points and 9.3 rebounds per contest.
Behind Lee was sophomore B. Artis White with 16 points, nine of which came in the second half. White was 6-of-10 from the field and knocked down two three-pointers. White leads the Broncos this season with 14 three's made. In his first game since Nov. 25, junior forward Patrick Emilien poured in 10 points off the bench on 3-of-4 shooting from the field with two coming from behind the three-point line.
Coming off his career-high performance last Sunday versus Milwaukee, redshirt junior Jason Whitens recorded nine points on 4-of-5 shooting from the field with four rebounds, two assists and one block. Behind Whitens was sophomore Titus Wright with eight points as Wright ranked second on the team with six rebounds.
Off the bench junior Rafael Cruz Jr. collected seven points on 3-of-5 shooting from the field with one three-pointer. Cruz Jr. also had four rebounds, three assists and one steal in 22 minutes against the Chippewas.
It was a stellar shooting night for the Broncos who shot a season-high 55.6 percent from the floor and knocked down eight three-pointers. Ranking second in the MAC in scoring defense, the Broncos held the Chippewas to just 61 points on 34.9 percent shooting from the field. In the second half alone, WMU outscored CMU 43-38 and shot a staggering 70.8 percent from the field.
WMU outrebounded CMU, 37-30 with the Chippewas earning a 14-8 advantage on the offensive glass. Western Michigan had 15 turnovers to CMU's 11 with the Chippewas earning 18 points off of Bronco mistakes. However, WMU dominated in the paint outscoring CMU, 34-28.
With the win the Broncos improve their overall record to 2-4 and 1-0 in conference play. It's the second year in a row WMU has started MAC play 1-0. Western Michigan continues its season-long six game homestand on Tuesday, Dec. 22 against Ball State. Tip-off is set for 2:00 p.m. on ESPN3 inside University Arena.
It was a blistering fast start for WMU as back-to-back three-pointers from B. Artis White and junior William Boyer-Richard guided the Broncos to an early 10-2 lead. Later in the first half, Boyer-Richard knocked down his second triple of the night to give WMU a double digit lead with 11 minutes remaining in the first half.
Western Michigan extended its lead to 20-9 at the nine-minute mark after junior Danny Kolp in his first game as a Broncos collected three straight points off the bench. The Broncos continued to extend their lead down the stretch of the first half as Cruz Jr., scored on a fast break lay-up to propel the Broncos in front by 12. The 28-16 lead for WMU was highlighted by CMU going 0-for-4 from the field and having three turnovers in a three-minute span. CMU clawed its way back late in the first half but wasn't enough to overtake the Broncos as WMU held a 33-23 lead at halftime.
To begin the second half, the Broncos got four straight points from White to gain a 40-27 lead. Two minutes later junior Patrick Emilien knocked down a corner three as WMU led 45-29 with 15:40 remaining.
WMU jumped out to its biggest lead of the game (21) at the 14:19 mark after a Whitens three-pointer from straight on highlighted a 14-2 run. Leading 55-38 with 11:28 remaining the Chippewas rallied and embarked on a 12-2 run to cut the Bronco lead down to 10 at the halfway point of the second half.
Central Michigan cut the lead down to single digits with 6:30 left to play as the WMU offense committed three turnovers in a two-minute span. With CMU trailing by eight, senior Rafael Cruz Jr., connected on a corner three with the shot clock winding down to give WMU a double-digit lead and the Broncos never looked back.
Western Michigan made six of its final seven field goals, pulling away from the Chippewas in the end for the 76-61 victory. It's the second straight year WMU has won its MAC opener and snapped a six-game losing streak to CMU. The win also marked the first victory over CMU for first year head coach Clayton Bates, becoming the seventh coach in school history to win his debut against the Chippewas.
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December 19, 2020 at 04:59AM
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WMU Earns 76-61 Wire-to-Wire Victory over CMU - WMUBroncos.com
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