KALAMAZOO, Mich. -- Western Michigan is getting hot at just the right time.
The Broncos won their fifth consecutive game Saturday, suffocating Eastern Michigan and Mid-American Conference second-leading scorer Brandon Bowdry with a strong defensive effort that resulted in a 61-47 win.
It was the MAC opener for both MAC West teams.
David Kool led WMU (9-5, 1-0) with 19 points, but more importantly, the Broncos held Bowdry, the league’s leading rebounder and No. 2 scorer, to 6 rebounds and 7 points -- more than 12 points under his scoring average.
“He’s very crafty,” WMU’s Donald Lawson said of Bowdry. “Crashing offensive glass helped us, and we just tried to stop him in every aspect of the game.”
The Broncos outrebounded EMU (8-6, 0-1), 45-36, led by Martelle McLemore’s career-high 12 and point guard Mike Douglas’ 7.
WMU held the Eagles to 26.4 percent shooting, including 21.7 percent from 3-point range, and dominated them in virtually every facet of the game. WMU more than doubled EMU’s scoring in the paint (26-12), scored more points off turnovers and fast breaks, and never trailed in the game.
Eastern scored just two baskets in the game’s first 12 minutes, leading to an early 18-point deficit.
“We didn’t make shots, we didn’t make any open shots or early shots,” said EMU Coach Charles Ramsey, who was called for a technical foul due to a disagreement on a foul call.
Douglas added 10 points for WMU and also had a game-high four assists.
Carlos Medlock led EMU with 16 points, but also had a game-high five turnovers. Bowdry made just 3-of-11 shots, and was 0-for-2 from 3-point range. Bodry was held scoreless in the first half, when the Broncos blasted ahead, 31-18.
In its last two games, WMU has held its opponents to an average of 46 points.
“It was a perfect game for us,” Kool said. “We came out and defended really well. We wanted to come out and pressure them, and play our tough-nose defense.”
“We rebounded the ball, and we took the scouting report out on the floor and executed it,” WMU Coach Steve Hawkins said. “Eastern is a very, very solid team and we did a nice job defending them.”
After a 1-2 start that included losses at Detroit and Loyola-Chicago, the Broncos have responded with two wins in three games at a holiday tournament in Hawaii, and now have won two consecutive games start-to-finish. They have the best overall record of MAC West teams and will play Wednesday night at Northern Illinois (5-8, 1-0), which won its league opener Saturday at Ball State.
Kool scored 10 points in the first half Saturday, including three on a 3-point shot which gave WMU a 15-4 lead less than seven minutes into the game. Kool’s basket was part of a 12-0 WMU ran which opened up the game for good.
The Broncos led by as many as 20 points in the first half, and they never led by fewer than seven points after that. EMU cut the lead to 36-29 with 14:54 left on Bowdry’s first basket of the game, but then a 15-4 run by WMU essentially grounded the Eagles for good.
WMU made just 23.1 percent of its shots in the second half, converting 6-of-26 tries, but drilled 17-of-22 free throws to hold off the Eagles.
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