Broncos Thunder Past Herd

After a tiring stretch of five games in eleven days the Western Michigan basketball team finally got some time off heading into today’s match-up with Marshall. The extra rest was evident as the Broncos posted a 90-70 victory over the Thundering Herd snapping their opponent’s two-game MAC winning streak.

The Broncos – who now hold a 16-8 (9-5 MAC) record – came out of the gate full steam ahead on the sharp shooting of Levi Rost who scored the first seven Bronco points including a 3-pointer from NBA range. “We came out with a lot of energy,” said Rost.

The crowd of 3,883 was into the game early giving an emotional boost to the Broncos who led 15-4 under three minutes into the game. But that opening lead wouldn’t last very long.

“Any time a team gets out to an early lead like that it’s kind of a false start,” said Herd coach Ron Jirsa. And Jirsa would be correct, as Marshall would come within a point at 17-16 just minutes later.

The two teams would battle back and forth until a run that began with ten minutes left in the first half would lead to the 17-point difference at half-time.

Marshall would begin the second half very similar to how the Broncos started the first. The Herd would go on a 14-4 run before Stane’s Bufford would get the crowd back into the game.

Bufford would steal a Ryan Lamb pass and take the ball to the other end scoring on a dunk that brought the fans to life… under a minute later Bufford would repeat the same play but this time with an athletic reverse dunk that sent the fans into a frenzy. “I can’t follow what he does in the air, I just know the ball made it throw the hoop,” said Bronco coach Steve Hawkins.

The Broncos would control the game the rest of the way, and Dan Hess would try to outdo Bufford with a fast break dunk of his own at 3:42. “I’m a better dunker then Hess,” Bufford would say after the game.

The Broncos would finish the game leading by as much as 24 twice and ending with the 20-point victory.

Leading scorers for the Broncos were Rost with 22, Ben Reed with 15 and Bufford would add 14 off the bench. Rost would also pace the Broncos with 8 rebounds. For the Herd, David Anderson scored 16 followed by LaVar Carter with 10.