UPDATE: Broncos snap MAC Tournament drought against Akron

The Western Michigan men's basketball team is headed to its first Mid-American Conference Tournament championship game since 2004 with a 64-60 overtime win over Akron Friday in the semifinals at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.

The win came in the style typical of this year’s Western Michigan squad; the Broncos looked out of sync on both ends of the court, fell behind by a large margin, then came storming back with defense and just enough offense.

WMU will play the winner of tonight’s other semifinal game between Toledo and Eastern Michigan in Saturday’s 6:30 p.m. championship game.

The Broncos last played in the MAC Tournament championship game in 2004, when they beat Kent State, 77-66, to go on to the NCAA Tournament.

Western Michigan trailed by as many as 18 points in the game and went into halftime looking at a 34-17 deficit.

The Broncos looked out of sync on both ends of the floor in the first half as the Zips were dominating on the glass and looked to be cruising to a win.



WMU senior David Brown was ice cold throughout most of the game, but he banked in a 3-point shot off the glass with 32 seconds remaining in overtime to give WMU a five-point lead, 60-55, in overtime. He then made three free throws in the closing seconds to secure the win.

Fellow senior Shayne Whittington carried the load as Brown struggled throughout most of regulation.

The 6-foot-11 center scored 18 points, grabbed 13 rebounds, blocked four shots, dished out two assists and had one steal.

Akron led 47-32 with 10:52 remaining in the second half. WMU then ripped off an 18-0 run from there to take a 50-47 lead with 2:46 remaining.

Akron scrambled to find just enough offense to tie the score at 52 apiece and force overtime.

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