The Broncos held the Wolverines to their third lowest scoring output of the season, while the eight-point loss was the second lowest margin of victory on the year for Michigan. Western Michigan now has an overall record of 5-5.
It was a career night for sophomore Michael Flowers, who scored a game and career-high 31 points on 9-of-16 shooting from the field. Flowers eclipsed his previous career-high of 27 and scored 20 or more points for the third time this season. The Southfield, Mich., native was near automatic at the free-throw line, as well, going 10-for-11.
Junior Jared Printy was the only other Bronco to score in double figures with 10 points. Printy was 3-of-6 from long distance in 35 minutes played. It’s the second straight game Printy has reached double digits.
Senior Seth Dugan nearly recorded his sixth double-double of the season with seven points and eight rebounds while fellow senior Josh Davis had four points and four rebounds in 20 minutes played.
The Broncos outshot the Wolverines, compiling a 45.7 field goal percentage compared to Michigan’s, 44.4 percent. WMU and Michigan were even on the glass with 32 rebounds each; however, Michigan had eight offensive rebounds to WMU’s four.
Michigan came into the game with the nation’s third ranked scoring defense and forced WMU to commit 16 turnovers, scoring 20 points off those miscues. The Brown & Gold held Michigan to just 38.9 percent from long distance, while the Wolverines were 15-of-25 from the free-throw line.
From start to finish, the Broncos had a first half to remember, shooting 43.5 percent from the field and knocking down four three-pointers to hold the lead for nearly 16 minutes. WMU didn’t trail the first half until the final buzzer after Michigan went on a 10-0 in the final 1:30 to take a 30-28 lead into halftime.
Prior to the Michigan spurt at the end, the Broncos led all the way through as Dugan helped WMU gain a 5-4 advantage early, scoring all five points. WMU extended its lead to 11-5 at the 13-minute mark after back-to-back three’s from Jared Printy and ultimately hit three straight from long distance to take a 14-9 lead.
The two teams failed to get anything going offensively midway through the first half before Flowers exploded with 12 straight points to give WMU its largest lead of the game at 28-20 with 2:58 left. Down the stretch, Michigan’s third ranked defense forced four WMU turnovers as the Wolverines went on a 10-0 run and took a two-point lead into the locker room.
To begin the second half, Josh Davis made an acrobatic lay-up to tie the game at 30-30 prior to Michigan embarking on a 14-2 run to extend its lead to double digits. The Broncos didn’t go away as Printy guided a 6-1 run cut the Brown & Gold deficit to seven with 13:26 remaining.
Midway through the second half the Broncos cut the lead down to five after making five of seven field goals but went the next three minutes scoreless as Michigan propelled its way back to a double-digit lead.
With two minutes left, freshman Adrian Martin swiped Michigan’s Zavier Simpson at center court for the fast break lay-up to cut Wolverine lead down to five. On the ensuing possession, Michigan’s Charles Matthews delivered the final blow in a hard fought contest with a corner three with the shot clock winding down to extend Michigan’s lead back to eight with 1:10 left.
Guard Michael Flowers scored the final four points from the free-throw as WMU battled until in the end in a hard fought 70-62 loss. Michigan remains undefeated at 11-0 as three players scored in double figures.
Western Michigan will hit the road for its final non-conference road game on Wednesday, Dec.19 at Dayton. The Broncos then return home to square off with Milwaukee (Dec.22) and UC Riverside (Dec.30) to end 2018.
(Courtesy of WMU Athletics)