Basketball Defeats Quincy

It was Steve Hawkins’ old team against Steve Hawkins’ new team in front of 1,128 fans on a Friday afternoon. His new team won 69-58 and it was one more opportunity for the Broncos to get some game competition under their belts in a relatively close match-up before the games start counting.

“All you have to do is look around the nation and see the scores of some of these Division 2s playing Division 1s and you see a lot of games that in this ten to fifteen point range,” said Hawkins. “Some people get surprised by the scores… I’m not. I came from that level and where there’s scholarships there’s players.”

Although the score was not quite what the fans expected WMU got what they needed. “I feel really good because we’re about where we expect to be,” said Hawkins.

The Broncos spread the playing time around a little less then they did against Kalamazoo College going primarily with a nine-player rotation. Coming off the bench for the most significant rolls were Jeff Bronson, Stane’s Bufford, Andrew Hershberger and Silver Laku.

According to coach Hawkins fans can expect to see a nine or ten player rotation throughout the season making the Broncos one of the deepest teams in the MAC.

The Broncos also spread the scoring around a bit with four players in double figures in points including Joe Reitz who was also in double figures in rebounds. Leading the scoring was Levi Rost who was six for ten from the floor including a pair of three pointers; one of which appeared to be from NBA distance.

Ben Reed and Brian Snider both finished with double figures in points as well while Rickey Willis struggled a bit shooting, ending with only five points despite taking seven shots from the field.

Quincy gave the Broncos a good fight but in the end having four more turnovers and nine fewer rebounds then WMU was enough to hold the Hawks off.

“[WMU] did a great job of taking us out of some things and forcing some turnovers and they did a great job of rebounding the basketball,” said Quincy head coach Marty Bell. “They turned a lot of their offensive rebound opportunities directly into scores and that’s really deflating for [us].”

In the end this game was a good gauge for both teams as they head into the regular season. “I can’t thank Steve [Hawkins] enough for playing us and giving us the opportunity to come up here and gain that experience,” said Bell. “I have always believed you get better and you realize what your areas to improve are by playing competition better then you.”

“I thought it was exactly what we needed,” added Hawkins. “I am really pleased with the two exhibition games that we got to play. Today the Quincy team came in and they’re as big as any team we’ll see in the MAC.”

The next competition for the Broncos will be against New Mexico State to open up the Top of the World Classic in Fairbanks, Alaska. The first home action for the Broncos will be November 29 against Loyola.