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Broncos survive offensive battle with NIU |
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Written by Paul Bowker
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KALAMAZOO, Mich. -- The trash talking -- and frustrations -- began long before Wednesday night‘s game between Western Michigan and Northern Illinois even started at University Arena. With a combined 10 consecutive losses in Mid-American Conference play, the Broncos and Huskies were like a couple of punch-drunk boxers, staggering around the canvas to see whom would survive.
More than two hours later, after 52 fouls and a technical foul were called, plus an ejection of WMU point guard Michael Douglas for a flagrant foul, the Broncos emerged with a 90-81 victory which allowed them to avoid their first three-game losing streak of the season and kept WMU (14-12, 6-7) tied with Eastern Michigan for third place in the MAC West.
“I heard a couple of our players talking about how their (NIU‘s) players were being chirpy” in pre-game warmups, WMU head coach Steve Hawkins said. “I don‘t like it, I certainly don‘t want to condone it in terms of trash talking. I will absolutely address it.”
“They were throwing jabs in the pre-game,“ said WMU’s David Kool, who scored a game-high 33 points. “We knew we had to play our best game. It was a heavyweight fight.“
Douglas was ejected with 8:29 left for throwing an elbow at NIU‘s Mike DiNunno, and followed a review of the incident via a TV monitor; the game was televised regionally by Fox Sports Detroit.
“I saw what happened,” NIU coach Ricardo Patton said. “I felt like the officials didn‘t see it. I just wanted them to take a look at the (TV) monitor and see what happened.”
“I didn’t see it, but you trust the referees,” Hawkins said. “If they say that he did it and it was flagrant, then I absolutely trust them.”
Whether the foul will lead to more disciplinary action than Wednesday’s ejection depends on a MAC review of the incident.
Among all this bruising, Kool -- the MAC’s leading scorer -- rose at a time when WMU desperately needed him to. Already WMU’s leading all-time scorer, Kool scored 28 of his 33 points in the second half, and hit 16-of-17 free throws -- the highest free throw total this season in the MAC. He led the Broncos out of a six-point deficit in the second half, hitting 7-of-11 shots and 13-of-14 free throws. The score was tied at 66 with 5:14 left, when a Kool layup began a 14-4 WMU run that put the Broncos ahead for good.
“I struggled with my shot early, but I stayed with it,” said Kool, who is one of six players in the nation to top 30 points in at least six games this season. “My teammates kept trying to find me and that’s what good teammates do.”
Xavier Silas led NIU (8-17, 4-9) with 23 points. After an impressive 4-0 start in MAC play, the Huskies have lost nine straight.
“It’s certainly been a tough stretch for our guys,“ Patton said, “but the lesson we have to learn is to be resilient and to keep working.“
A double-double (13 points, 10 rebounds) by Donald Lawson helped WMU control the boards with a 40-28 rebounding advantage. But the Broncos’ edge clearly came on the free-throw line. The Broncos hit 34-of-45 free throws, including 24-of-32 in the second half when the Huskies were called for 22 fouls; NIU hit 20-of-27 the entire game.
“When you’re pulling hard on the defensive end, calls or no calls, when you don’t get them and your opponent does, it affects the outcome of the game,” Patton said.
Both teams will the road for ESPN BracketBuster games Saturday: WMU will be at Southern Illinois; NIU is at Eastern Illinois. |
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