The Falcons Mid-American Conference-West title hopes were shattered last night as the Broncos proved to be a little hungrier for a second championship.
Western Michigan (18-10, 11-6 MAC) crushed the Bowling Green men’s basketball team at University Arena (17-9, 10-7 MAC) 77-52 en route to their second consecutive MAC-West title.
On an emotional senior night, the Broncos got an early lift from their seniors and never lost their momentum.
Seniors Levi Rost and Rickey Willis led the way with 15 points apiece.
“They were very good tonight,” BG head coach Dan Dakich said. “They came out on senior night playing really hard, and playing really confident.”
After the Broncos jumped out to a 13-2 lead in the first four minutes on senior guard Ben Reed’s three-pointer, Dakich picked up his first technical foul of the season.
“I haven’t gotten many technicals, but I just decided I needed to do something just to see if we could get going,” he said.
BG cut the deficit to six two minutes later, but never got any closer the rest of the way as the Broncos scored the next 10 points pushing their lead to 23-7 with 10 minutes left in the half.
The Broncos stretched their 17 point half-time lead, to as much as 36 with just over five minutes to play in the game. In the final five minutes, the Falcons went on a 14-3 run, but it was too late by that point to make a comeback.
For the first time this season, no one scored in double figures for the Falcons. Seniors Josh Almanson and John Reimold each had 9 points and were held to a combined 7-for-22 shooting from the field.
Dakich said the Broncos defense kept them from finding a comfort zone offensively, which blew the game open early.
“My hat is off to them,” he said. “They put us in a situation where we weren’t so comfortable shooting the ball. They beat us in every which way.”
BG guard Steven Wright also had 9 points with a team-high four assists and freshman guard Perrick Robinson chipped in with six points.
The other senior for the Broncos, forward Jeff Bronson, scored eight points and grabbed six rebounds. Freshman center Joe Reitz added 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting with seven rebounds for the Broncos and junior forward Stane’s Bufford also had 11 points.
The Falcons host their own senior day on Saturday, when Central Michigan visits Anderson Arena.
