For the second night in a row, the Aquinas men's basketball team faced off in an exhibition game against an in-state NCAA opponent, with the Saints traveling to Kalamazoo on Wednesday (Dec. 18) to take on Western Michigan. With just under eight minutes remaining, AQ trailed the NCAA Division I Broncos by just 10 points (64-54) before WMU pulled away to make the score appear a little more lopsided.
 
The final scoreboard read 84-61 in Western Michigan's favor, but the Saints hung around and put forth a valiant effort against the Broncos in the WHAC vs. MAC contest. Both Wednesday's game against WMU and Tuesday's (Dec. 17) matchup at Davenport were counted as exhibition games for Aquinas. 
 
AQ shot a respectable 41.0 percent from the field, but struggled from downtown (4-of-19) and made 7-of-11 free throws. The Saints stayed close on the glass, as Western Michigan held a slight 36-30 edge in rebounds. Both teams turned the ball over 15 times and Aquinas owned a 19-14 advantage in points off turnovers.
 
Western Michigan shot the ball very well throughout the game, shooting 59 percent in both halves. The Broncos were 7-of-18 from beyond the arc and 13-of-20 at the charity stripe.
 
For the second game in a row, 13 Saints saw the floor, with 10 AQ players reaching the scoring column on Wednesday. Aquinas totaled 30 points in the paint against WMU, with a chunk of those coming from Gabe Overway and Myles Patten. Overway led AQ with 12 points and five rebounds, making 6-of-7 shots in 26 minutes.
 
Patten went 4-of-6 from the field and made 3-of-6 free throws to post 11 points and four boards, while Andrew Myers added 11 points on 4-of-11 shooting. Davion Benton chipped in seven points, three rebounds, and two steals. Justin Lary scored five points and Jesse Hillis dished out a game-high six assists.
 
Western Michigan led wire-to-wire and took a 48-30 lead to halftime. In the second half, Aquinas battled back and chipped away at the deficit. A pair of layups from Patten and a Beau LePage three-pointer made it 64-54 with 7:50 remaining, but the Broncos scored the next 11 points and began to pull away from the Saints.
 
After consecutive exhibition contests on the road, AQ returns to Grand Rapids for regular season games and the start of a four-game homestand. On Saturday (Dec. 21), the Saints host Grace Christian at 3:00 p.m. inside the Sturrus Center.