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GAME NOTES: The Western Michigan Broncos try to snap a two-game slide as they clash with the Buffalo Bulls in Mid-American Conference action tonight at Alumni Arena in upstate New York.

Western Michigan, which is a mere 1-6 in true road games this season and has yet to defeat a MAC opponent away from home, has lost two straight games and three of the last four. On Saturday, the squad was silenced by Kent State in a 74-73 final in Ohio.

As for the Bulls, they opened conference play with three straight wins but then suffered three consecutive setbacks before posting a 95-83 victory against Northern Illinois on the road two days ago.

This relationship dates back to 1954 and has been under the control of the Broncos for the most part with their 9-5 series edge. However, last season the Bulls posted a 74-71 win on the road to snap a two-game slide.

David Kool converted 12-of-23 shots from the floor and made good on all 12 of his free-throw attempts on Saturday, but even he with his massive 38-point effort could not keep the Broncos out of the loss column again. While Kool, the only player to reach double figures for Western Michigan, was able to make all of his free throws, the rest of the team combined to go just 10-of-16 at the stripe, easily the difference in the one-point loss on the road. Kool, the leading scorer in three of the last four games for WMU, is one of the top point producers in not just the MAC but the entire country after 20 games with his 21.0 ppg. Kool has been calm at the free-throw line where he has knocked down 111-of-123 (.902), yet the team as a whole is checking in at just 72.6 percent accuracy at the moment.

Buffalo went from shooting 50 percent from the field in the first half of its meeting with Northern Illinois over the weekend to dropping a staggering 60.6 percent after the break to claim the double-digit road win. Rodney Pierce was responsible for 17 points and six assists, one of five players to score in double figures for the Bulls. Sean Smiley added 13 points off the bench, Mitchell Watt and John Boyer tallied 12 points apiece, followed by Calvin Betts with 11 points. Pierce, who is playing close to 34 minutes per game for UB this season, leads the team in scoring with his 18.0 ppg, even though he is shooting just 39.9 percent from the field. Betts accounts for another 11.1 ppg and is first on the glass with 7.3 rpg to help provide the program with a slide edge on the boards over the competition, and that has been one of the reasons for the squad's 73.7 ppg scoring average.

Obviously Kool is someone who can light up the scoreboard for the Broncos, but if he doesn't get any help as was the case over the weekend, expect to see WMU right back in the loss column this evening.