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KALAMAZOO -- Senior David Kool scored 18 points and sophomore Flenard Whitfield added 14 points to lead Western Michigan men's basketball past NAIA Spring Arbor, 81-51, in front of 2,644 at University Arena in an exhibition on Wednesday night. The Broncos shot 54.5 percent (30-55) from the field and outscored the Cougars, 32-12, in the paint, and on the fast break, 15-0, to win their second exhibition game in preparation for Sunday's season opener at Detroit. The Broncos' defense held the Cougars to 33.3 percent (17-51) and forced 15 turnovers to outscore SAU, 17-9, in points off turnovers. The Broncos broke the game open at the beginning of the second half as Kool scored seven points in a row off a putback, three-pointer and pull-up baseline jumper, 42-27, in the first two minutes. Spring Arbor pulled within 12 points, but the Broncos pushed the lead back out after Donald Lawson hit a free throw and then scored on a putback to keep WMU up 15, 49-34, with 13:56 left in the game. Lawson finished the contest with a game-high 10 rebounds.
Alex Wolf took over from there as he scored more points in 2:41, eight, than he scored in his first two seasons after joining the team as a walk-on. Wolf hit a three-pointer to put WMU up 19, 57-38, and kept it up 19, 60-41, after converting an old-fashioned three-point play on a drive down the lane. Moments later he stole the ball and went coast-to-coast to put the Broncos up 23, 67-44, with 7:01 remaining. The Broncos were on cruise control from there and went up by as many as 35 points, 81-46, in the final minutes after walk-on Ed Thomas stole the ball and went the length of the court for a near dunk before the ball slipped out of his hands, but still fell through.
The Broncos opened the game with the first five points after Mike Douglas pulled down a defensive rebound and raced coast-to-coast for a layup. Whitfield followed on the next possession with an offensive rebound, putback and free throw after the foul. The Cougars pulled within two, but then David Brown canned a three and Kool hit a baseline pull-up jumper to put WMU up seven, 14-7, with 13:57 to play. Spring Arbor stayed close and cut the lead to three when Whitfield knocked down a pair of mid-range jumpers and Kool canned a long fast break jumper from the right wing to give WMU its largest lead, 24-14, and force an SAU timeout with 7:12 to play. The Broncos kept the lead at 10, 29-19, after Kool hit a three-pointer from the left wing after a steal by Martelle McLemore with 4:53 on the clock. After a three by the Cougars, Nate Hutcheson scored his first two baskets of the exhibition season on a pair of acrobatic layups to put WMU up 11, 35-24, but SAU hit a three-pointer to stay within eight points, 35-27, at halftime. Freshmen Hutcheson and Brown both added nine points, while Hutcheson added five rebounds. Freshman Shayne Whittington pulled down six rebounds, while Douglas had a team-high four assists and two steals along with McLemore and Thomas. Spring Arbor was led by Jake Wild with 12 points on 4-of-4 three-point shooting.
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Official Basketball Box Score
Spring Arbor vs Western Michigan
11/11/09 7 p.m. at Kalamazoo, Mich. (University Arena)
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VISITORS: Spring Arbor 3-2
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
22 LIST, Jared......... f 2-6 2-5 0-0 1 0 1 1 6 0 1 0 1 16
23 BOSS, Rob........... f 1-6 0-1 3-4 2 0 2 2 5 1 1 0 2 20
24 LIST, Aaron......... f 0-5 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 3 0 1 2 0 0 25
10 BLAIR, Richard...... g 2-4 1-2 0-0 0 1 1 1 5 0 0 0 0 13
12 BAISDEN, DJ......... g 0-4 0-1 5-6 0 1 1 1 5 0 2 0 0 19
03 WILD, Jake.......... 4-4 4-4 0-0 1 0 1 0 12 0 0 0 0 13
05 BELLAMY, Chris...... 2-5 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 1 4 2 2 1 0 21
11 VAN PELT, Matt...... 3-5 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 3 6 4 1 0 4 23
21 CARDEN, Matt........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 4
30 KLEIN, Louis........ 0-5 0-1 0-0 0 3 3 1 0 0 1 0 0 17
40 PICKVET, Willie..... 3-6 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 2 6 1 3 0 0 16
42 HOWE, Matt.......... 0-1 0-0 2-4 1 2 3 0 2 0 1 0 1 13
TEAM................ 2 4 6 1
Totals.............. 17-51 7-16 10-14 8 13 21 17 51 9 15 1 9 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 9-23 39.1% 2nd Half: 8-28 28.6% Game: 33.3% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-9 33.3% 2nd Half: 4-7 57.1% Game: 43.8% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 6-10 60.0% 2nd Half: 4-4 100 % Game: 71.4% 2,1
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HOME TEAM: Western Michigan 2-0
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
03 McLEMORE, Martelle.. f 1-4 1-3 2-2 0 3 3 1 5 2 2 1 2 22
33 WHITFIELD, Flenard.. f 6-9 0-0 2-2 2 3 5 1 14 1 4 1 0 21
24 LAWSON, Donald...... c 3-3 0-0 1-2 4 6 10 2 7 1 0 0 0 15
05 DOUGLAS, Mike....... g 1-5 0-1 0-0 0 2 2 1 2 4 2 0 2 22
23 KOOL, David......... g 7-12 2-6 2-2 1 2 3 0 18 1 0 0 0 20
01 WARD, Demetrius..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 6
10 POKLEY, Brandon..... 1-5 1-5 0-0 0 1 1 0 3 1 0 0 0 15
11 HUTCHESON, Nate..... 4-6 0-1 1-2 1 4 5 1 9 0 0 0 1 18
12 THOMAS, Ed.......... 1-1 0-0 2-4 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 2 4
15 WOLF, Alex.......... 3-4 1-1 1-1 0 0 0 0 8 0 1 0 0 13
21 WHITTINGTON, Shayne. 0-2 0-0 2-2 1 5 6 2 2 1 0 0 0 11
22 HARPER, Austin...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
25 BROWN, David........ 3-4 1-1 2-2 2 1 3 1 9 0 2 0 0 15
32 CONTEH, Muhammed.... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 11
52 STAPERT, Nick....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 4
TEAM................
Totals.............. 30-55 6-18 15-19 12 28 40 12 81 11 14 2 7 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 14-28 50.0% 2nd Half: 16-27 59.3% Game: 54.5% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-9 22.2% 2nd Half: 4-9 44.4% Game: 33.3% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 5-5 100 % 2nd Half: 10-14 71.4% Game: 78.9% 3
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Officials: Terry Wymer, Greg Langdorf, Rickey Smith
Technical fouls: Spring Arbor-None. Western Michigan-WHITFIELD, Flenard.
Attendance: 2644
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Spring Arbor.................. 27 24 - 51
Western Michigan.............. 35 46 - 81
Points in the paint-SAU 12,WMU0910 32. Points off turnovers-SAU 9,WMU0910 17.
2nd chance points-SAU 8,WMU0910 16. Fast break points-SAU 0,WMU0910 15.
Bench points-SAU 30,WMU0910 35. Score tied-0 times. Lead changed-0 times.
Last FG-SAU 2nd-00:55, WMU0910 2nd-02:05.
Largest lead-SAU None, WMU0910 by 35 2nd-02:05.
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ALEX QUOTES in the presser after the game:
On getting more playing time-
"I'm just getting more comfortable out there, the more court time the more comfortable I get with the offense. They pressured quite a bit which made me drive, and I got to the basket pretty easily which was nice."
On competition-
"It's good to have competitioon in general with the team, in the 1 spot we knew it was open in the beggining of the year. I know Mikeys got it now, but I have to keep pushing him to make him better and the team better."
On working hard-
"I knew it was going to be a long road, walking on a division one team. You have to put in a lot of work, and I'm just glad all the work kind of payed off which I'm seeing now."
(12th grade)
Comments about anything?
Thomas R. Wolf, Jr. <wmuwolf@gmail.com>