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Another Kool night leads to another WMU win |
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Written by Paul Bowker
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Western Michigan‘s David Kool was a 30-point scorer for the third time this season in the Broncos‘ game Sunday against Sam Houston State.
Impressive enough, but ...
It was Kool’s career-high 12th basket with 3.9 seconds left, his 30th and 31st points of the game, which sent WMU to a 74-73 win at Kalamazoo, Mich., as the Broncos (7-5) rallied from a 15-point deficit to win its third consecutive game.
Oh, and Kool also had a steal in the game‘s final second to seal the deal.
“What can you say about David? David wasn‘t going to let us lose,” said WMU head coach Steve Hawkins, who earned his 250th career win -- 113 of them with the Broncos.
Kool hit 12-of-17 shots, including five 3-pointers, and had four assists and three steals.
“It‘s crazy watching him go off for 30 points,” said WMU guard Mike Douglas, who had a team-high seven assists. “It‘s easy passing to him because something good is going to happen. We always know something good is going to happen. He is going to be fouled, he is going to hit the bucket or get somebody open.”
“I had a good rhythm going and whenever I had any space, I was going to let it go,” Kool said.
WMU’s Martelle McLemore had first career double-double, grabbing a career-high 10 rebounds and scoring 12 points.
Corey Allmond scored 22 points for Sam Houston State (8-5), which led 58-43 with 14 minutes left in the game and was cruising at that point. The Broncos were outscored 17-4 in the final five minutes of the first half.
WMU stormed back in the final 14 minutes of the game on a hot shooting hand by Kool -- and others. The Broncos hit 53.8 percent of their shots in the second half. Nate Hutcheson, making his first career start, scored all six of his points in the second half, including a basket off an offensive rebound that began WMU‘s run. McLemore had seven rebounds in the second half.
Meanwhile, Sam Houston State’s hot shooting from the 3-point line (7-for-15 in the first half) cooled in the second half to 2-for-8 and the Broncos held them to 14 inside points in the second half, 12 fewer than Sam Houston had in the first half.
“In the second half, the thing I was most proud of, we got punched really good and we finally started to compete and got up after them.”
A basket by Kool finally tied the scored at 68 with 2:03 left. But two free throws by Sam Houston State’s Gilberto Clavell, following a foul by Donald Lawson with 25 seconds left, put Sam Houston back in front.
All that was left was the game-winning shot by Kool.
“Mikey (Douglas) handed it off to me, gave a little brush screen and I knew I had to attack,” Kool said. “I tried to get into the lane and I think Sam Houston State got a little mixed up on a switch and the lane opened up. I got a little spin move in, and floated it up and in.”
The Broncos still have one more nonconference date before opening its Mid-American Conference schedule Saturday, Jan. 9, vs. Eastern Michigan. The Broncos will play host to Michigan-Dearborn on Tuesday night. |
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