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Miami's Kramer Soderberg is guarded by David Kool / Photo: Mike Smith

Overall, Western Michigan connected on just 12 of 45 field goal attempts (26.7 percent) as the Broncos lost for the 14th consecutive time on the Oxford hardwood. Western Michigan was particularly perplexed in the second half as it shot a chilly 21.1 percent from the field.

Kool, who came into the game with a 17.6 ppg. average (2nd) in MAC competition, caught the full brunt of Miami’s defensive effort. Although he was a perfect 8-for-8 from the charity stripe, the 6-3 junior guard missed on all 11 attempts from the field.

“Our offense wasn’t what won the game for us today,” said Miami forward Tyler Dierkers, who led all scorers with 13 points. “It was definitely our defense and Eric Pollitz spearheaded that.”

Pollitz has been battling a variety of injuries, including a foot problem, this season. Nonetheless, he again came up big against Kool and the Broncos.

“He’s got a bad foot and I give him an awful lot of credit,” Miami coach Charlie Coles said of Pollitz. “I thought he did a really good job on Kool.”

“I just take it as a challenge. I love playing defense,” Pollitz said. “I really try to lock in on one of (the opponents’) best players. I think it gives us a better chance to win the game – make him shoot a lot of bad shots and kind of frustrate him a little bit.”

Both offenses were feeling the frustration during a first half that Western Michigan coach Steve Hawkins called a “bloodbath."

“Both teams really went at each other hard,” Hawkins said. “Both teams struggled to get anything going offensively. If you would have put a bet down on David Kool having no points and Michael Bramos having no points at halftime, you probably would have won a lot of money.”

After building up a 7-2 lead with 16:16 remaining, Miami did not score another field goal until Kramer Soderberg’s layup at the 5:34 mark. Although they weren’t on fire themselves, the Broncos did manage to capitalize on the host’s cold spell with a 10-0 run. Western Michigan led 14-9 when Miami found another way to score.

Antonio Ballard and Rodney Haddix each hit a pair of free throws to pull the RedHawks within one. The points seemed to resuscitate Miami’s offense and the hosts went into the locker room with a 23-22 halftime lead.

“We weren’t very good on offense, but we played pretty good defense. The first half was a real struggle,” Coles said. “We were lucky to get (the lead) back.”

“Neither team was able to get into a rhythm, but we made some really dumb fouls in the first half that allowed them to stay in it,” Hawkins said. “We were only down by one point at halftime, even though I felt we could have been up by four, five or six points had we not committed as many fouls and some of them were dumb – 70 or 80  feet away from the basket.”

Hawkins noted a number of the fouls were “frustration fouls” related to the Broncos' offensive struggles. That frustration re-emerged in the second half.

A Bramos jumper at 16:41 gave Miami a 31-26 lead, but neither team could score again until Nick Winbush converted a fast break layup at 12:57.

Tyler Dierkers paced Miami with 13 points against WMU. Photo: Mike Smith

By that time, Miami had already committed six team fouls and it appeared the Broncos might have a chance to do what Miami had done in the first half – use the free throw line to generate some offensive productivity.

The RedHawks, however, did not commit their seventh foul – putting WMU in the bonus - until 9:11. The frustrated Broncos, meanwhile, committed several quick fouls and registered their seventh team foul at 7:42. The free throw line was a popular spot from that point through the end of the game.

Kool made all eight of his free throw attempts and the visitors canned 14 of 16 charity tosses in the second half. The Redhawks nearly matched that with 12 of 14 free throws, but they pulled away on the strength of 48 percent shooting (13 of 27) from the field after intermission. Western Michigan made just four field goals (4 of 19) in the final 20 minutes.

“What happened is we were solid on defense and one team had to begin to be better than the other (on offense) after a while. Tonight it was us,” Coles said.

Dierkers led the RedHawks with 13 points. Bramos (12) and Ballard (11) were also in double figures. Adam Fletcher paced the winners on the boards with eight rebounds to go with his eight points.

Western Michigan failed to put a scorer in double figures, but Andre Ricks led the way with nine points in 13 minutes. He was 3-for-3 behind the arc.

With the win, Miami (15-8, 8-3 MAC) wrapped up its swing through the West division with a 5-1 mark. The RedHawks return to MAC East play Wednesday with a game at Akron. They will then take a one-game break in conference play when they travel to Evansville Saturday for an ESPN Bracket Buster game.

Western Michigan (8-16, 5-6 MAC) returns to West Division competition Wednesday when it hosts Eastern Michigan. The Broncos then host Eastern Illinois Saturday in an ESPN Bracket Buster game.