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WMU earns one more home date with win over Cardinals |
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Written by Paul Bowker
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KALAMAZOO, MI. - David Kool, the leading all-time scorer in Western Michigan history, will get another home game to show his stuff.
Kool, scored 12 of his team-high 16 points in the second half, leading the Broncos to a 67-52 win over Ball State on Thursday night. WMU‘s victory earned the Broncos the No. 7 seed in the Mid-American Conference Tournament and a home game Sunday against No. 10 seed Bowling Green.
“Considering the position we were in coming in,” said Kool, whose four free throws made him the MAC’s all-time leader in free throws made with 580. “I think it‘s what we wanted. It‘s great to know we get to play home again on Sunday. It‘s always good to get a home-court game because it‘s tough to win on the road.”
Ball State (15-14, 8-8 MAC West) would know something about that road part. The Cardinals, who could have won the MAC West title with wins in the last week at Toledo and WMU, instead lost both games and slipped into a second-place tie with WMU and Eastern Michigan. The Cardinals lost their last three games, but still could have grabbed a share of the West title with a win at Western.
“It‘s obviously not the way we wanted to finish our regular season, losing three in a row,” Ball State coach Billy Taylor said.
Ball State, the No. 8 seed, will play host to No. 9 Ohio on Sunday.
Central Michigan won the West for the second consecutive year and a No. 2 tournament seed with a one-point win over Eastern Michigan on Thursday.
On Senior Night at WMU, Kool and senior guard Martelle McLemore (14 points) each hit double figures in scoring, and senior center Donald Lawson had a career-high four assists to go along with a team-high seven rebounds.
“This was my home for four years,” McLemore said. “The atmosphere, everyone, was always positive.”
“I looked at my parents and I knew they were getting teary-eyed, and I was trying not to cry,” Kool said. “It was a weird feeling knowing that it may be your last time to play in front of the crowd here and the community.”
The Broncos (16-14, 8-8) were ahead of Ball State by just two at halftime, then buried Ball State with accurate shooting that fed off an aggressive defense. The Broncos scored 27 points off Ball State turnovers, including nine Ball State turnovers in the second half, and held the Cardinals to 29.2 percent shooting in the second half.
WMU’s Alex Wolf, a junior, scored all 10 of his points in the second half. Kool hit 5-of-6 shots. As a team, the Broncos shot 50 percent. Flenard Whitfield had six of his 10 rebounds in the second half and scored four points in a 12-2 run that put the Broncos ahead for good.
“I thought both teams played really hard, and I was really happy with how physical we were,” WMU coach Steve Hawkins said. “We chased down a lot of loose balls. It looked more like our kind of numbers.”
Randy Davis scored a game-high 23 points for Ball State, but was held to four points in the second half on 2-of-8 shooting. Two Cardinal starters never scored and Ball State’s bench was outscored, 26-12.
“I think they (the Broncos) did a good job of pressuring us down low,” Davis said. “They made it harder for our guards to get it in. … It forced us to take a lot of jump shots.”
WMU enters Sunday’s first-round MAC Tournament game with a three-game win streak at home, including 65-64 over Round 1 opponent Bowling Green on Feb. 6. Another win over the Falcons would send WMU to the quarterfinal round in Cleveland against rival Central Michigan.
“It’s not a bad scenario,” Hawkins said. “I get the feeling that some people think we had a bad season, but I don’t think so. There are some games that we would have loved to win that we didn’t win, but look at everybody else’s record. We’re all bunched up.” |
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