By Alan Gerould, Editor, SW Michigan Sports Review
UNIVERSITY ARENA — Western Michigan University had it going on all cylinders for most of 40 minutes on Saturday as they stretched their record at University Arena this season to a perfect 7-0 with a 74-51 beat down of west division foe Toledo.
Bronco senior forward Flenard Whitfield, who is still nursing an ankle sprain that kept him sidelined for six games, rejected the Rockets first field goal attempt and then scored on a lay-in to put the Broncos up — never to look back. It was to my mind and that of Bronco coach Steve Hawkins the best all-around effort of the year. “We did a real good job of sharing the ball and finding the open man,” Hawk said in a post-game interview. “ I was also pleased with our defense and the way we got after the boards.”
All three of the Broncos starting big men (Whitfield, Matt Stainbrook and Nate Hutcheson) ended up with double digit scoring despite Hawkins going back to his small ball lineup where freshman guards Austin Ritchie and Hayden Hoerdemann join senior starting guards Mikey Douglas and Demetrius Ward for much of the game. The newcomers once again had solid games with nine and eight points respectively including a couple of three’s by H20 (H squared = offense )….
This -n- that…. Broncos broke out their gold uni’s for the first time that I can remember since the Joe Reitz era. I say wear ‘em until they stop working…
WMU President John Dunn must have been a NCAA basketball official in an earlier life as he often is demonstrative when the officials are in error, he makes sure they know about it…..
I still have not figured out why we are not seeing more of local favorite son Shayne Whittington. He was really playing well and getting lots of minutes but not so much lately. Hmm…
The Broncos still have a minimum of three on the injured list…but don’t Brandon Pokley, David Brown and Nick Stapert look the part of a sharp scholar/athlete with the threads on the bench..looks like a shoot from GQ…
A little heads up for SWMSR readers…the annual Bronco Garage Sale is to be held Saturday, January 28th at University Arena starting before a basketball doubleheader featuring the women taking on Ohio U at 2:00 and the men following with a visit from Miami of Ohio at 4:00. This is a great opportunity to pick up Bronco apparel on the cheap…Particularly for the plus sized like yours truly…I’ve never seen so much 3X stuff in one place…
The men are at EMU Wednesday and back home against CMU on Saturday. The ladies start a three game home stand against NIU on Thursday and the Hockey team, coming off a big sweep of Notre Dame, is at Miami (OH) Friday and Saturday…..
