Broncos Destroy Golden Flashes

If there was any doubt whether the WMU basketball team would be able to continue their home winning streak against a tough Kent State team that doubt vanished after the Broncos went on a 29-6 run in the first half. The 4,235 in attendance witnessed the nation’s second longest home winning streak extend to 24 in a game much more lopsided then the 76-60 final score.

The Broncos would lead in the neighborhood of 27 for much of the second half with a game high 29-point lead. Much of that lead came from the hands of Levi Rost who shot 7 of 10 from the 3-point line. “He’s the best shooter I’ve ever seen in person,” said Joe Reitz following his 13-point, 9-rebound game.

“My shots started to fall and the guys were getting me the ball in open areas giving me an opportunity to succeed,” said Rost. “I credit my teammates for getting me the ball in good situations.”

Rost would finish with a game high 25 points and both Reitz and Ben Reed would add 13 of their own. Rickey Willis’ 6 assists along with Brian Snider’s 4 assists aided the scoring.

The game started sluggish for the Broncos falling behind 2-7 in the first couple minutes of the game. “We weren’t playing good defense,” said Rost. “Once we started playing Bronco defense we got the offense going.”

The offense got going full steam ahead for the 29-6 first half run. Reed and Rost would hit 3-pointers that would spark a rash of fast break lay-ups highlighted by a Snider fast break toss to Stane’s Bufford for the lay-in that sent the entire crowd screaming to their feet.

The Flashes would close the gap slightly from the 31-13 Bronco lead to finish the half at 37-23.

The second half would start strong for the Broncos with a 20-9 run to open up a 27-point lead and the Broncos would never look back. In the midst of the early run Reitz would go strong to the basket, make the shot and draw he foul sending the crowd into another frenzy.

Reitz would accidentally hit Snider in the stomach during the celebration that would send Snider to the floor and out of the game. “He said he would get me back for the tomorrow, but we’ll see about that,” joked Reitz after the game. Snider would return to the game just fine only a minute later.

The Broncos would build to their 29-point lead as the two teams traded baskets through the 7-minute mark of the game.

WMU would coast the rest of the way as the final minutes ticked away. “That’s just human nature with such a big lead,” said head coach Steve Hawkins. “That was some ugly basketball and we’ll look at that on tape, but that is my only real concern in tonight’s game.”

KSU would be led offensively be committee as four players had between 8 and 10 points with Kevin Warzynski leading the pack. Jason Edwin would come off the bench and pull down a team high 8 boards.

Tough Defense:

A point of pride for the Broncos tonight was the ability to hold a very good shooting team to just 36% from the field. And even more impressive was holding Kent State to just 3 for 21 from 3-point land.

“We just tried to get hands in their faces,” said Rost when asked if the Bronco defense had an effect on the poor shooting for the Golden Flashes.

“They played hard and got to our shooters quickly,” said Kent State head coach Jim Christian. “We take our hats off to [WMU].”