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Broncos bench paves way in lopsided win |
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Written by Paul Bowker
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Western Michigan went to its bench in a big way Tuesday night for its final tuneup before the start of Mid-American Conference play this coming weekend. All 13 Broncos scored in a 86-45 win over Michigan-Dearborn, extending the Broncos’ win streak to four games.
The Broncos bench accounted for 54 points, including a career-high 13 for David Brown. Shayne Whittington had career highs in rebounds (10), points (6) and field goals (3). He played 20 minutes, and every Bronco player coming off the bench played at least 11 minutes.
“I definitely needed it (the minutes), I guess,” Whittington said. “Ten rebounds? I didn’t even pay attention to that. I had no clue until I came to the locker room.”
“We wanted to get our guys out there and certainly play a ballgame before we went into conference play where we could get our bench extended minutes, and we did that,” WMU head coach Steve Hawkins said. “When we looked down at the stat sheet, I noticed that everybody scored that played.”
David Kool scored a game-high 15 points for the Broncos (8-5), but played just 12 minutes as Hawkins opened up the game to his bench players.
By the time Hawkins made his first substitution less than five minutes into the game, the Broncos were up 11-5. WMU had a 14-point lead eight minutes into the game, and cruised from there.
The Broncos made 55.6 percent of their shots in the first half and led, 46-23. Kool had nine points in the first half.
WMU wound up with 65 rebounds, a single-game high for any MAC team this season, led by Donald Lawson’s career-high 12. The Broncos had 25 offensive rebounds.
Le’ante Duren led Michigan-Dearborn (3-11) with 11 points. Myke White added 10.
Brown played more minutes than any other bench player, with 23. In Sunday’s 74-73 win over Sam Houston State, he played just five minutes.
“I’m behind David Kool and Martelle McLemore, and they’re just outstanding players. They putting up great numbers right now,” Brown said. “To transition from being the man in high school to go to being a backup, you just got to wait your turn.”
Already ahead by 23 points at halftime, the Broncos scored 14 of the first 16 points in the second half to break the game open even more. The bench scored 30 of WMU’s 40 points in the second half, led by Flenard Whitfield’s 10.
The Broncos destroyed Michigan-Dearborn inside, outscoring them 52-20 in the paint.
WMU held Michigan-Dearborn to 19.4 percent shooting in the second half, including 1-for-11 from 3-point range.
WMU opens its MAC schedule Saturday afternoon, when it plays host to Eastern Michigan at University Arena.
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