Box Score
Season Statistics
HONOLULU -- Joe Reitz led four Western Michigan players in double figures with 17 points, but two unheralded players for Colorado State set career highs in a 87-69 loss in the first round of the 42nd Outrigger Hotels Rainbow Classic. First-year junior college forward Michael Harrison and freshman guard Stephan Gilling scored 24 and 18 points respectively for the Rams (8-1).
The Broncos (2-5) limited the Rams' leading scorer Jason Smith (17.6 ppg) to 14 points, with six of those coming after the Rams were up comfortably in the second half. After averaging 9.9 and 5.9 points each through the first eight games, Harrison and Gilling took advantage of the constant double-teaming of Smith to make the Broncos pay. Gilling made six three-pointers while Harrison took advantage of openings in the lane for numerous layups and putbacks in an 11-for-12 shooting night.
Western Michigan was down eight at halftime, but came out in the second half to cut the lead to six on a jumper by Stane's Bufford and again moments later when a Reitz layup made the score 43-37 with 18:49 remaining. Colorado State answered with an 8-2 run in less than two minutes to build its lead to 12, 51-39, with 16:54 remaining. The Broncos got within 10 points on their next two possessions, but the Rams used a 16-5 run to push their lead to 22, 70-52, with 8:19 left in the game and never looked back.
The Broncos fell behind early, 19-8, behind five made three-pointers in the first six minutes by the Rams. WMU fought back and held CSU scoreless over 5:36, but could only cut the deficit to three points, 23-20, before the lead ballooned back to double digits.
Colorado State took its largest lead of the first half after Sean Morris converted 1-of-2 free throws after a technical on Broncos' head coach Steve Hawkins. Reitz answered back with seven straight points for Western Michigan until Freddy Robinson converted an alley-oop layup with :01 left in the half to give Colorado State an eight-point cushion, 41-33, at halftime.
The Rams were on fire throughout the game hitting 64 percent of their shots in the first half (16-of-25), including 6-of-10 three-pointers, and finished the game shooting 61.1 percent. Western Michigan fought back at the free throw line by hitting 18-of-22 (81.8 percent), but connected on only 40.7 percent of its shots from the field.
The Broncos forced 22 Ram turnovers, but converted that into only 15 points while the Rams converted the Broncos' 20 turnovers into 22 points.
Bufford finished in double figures for the fourth straight game with 12 points while freshmen Shawntes Gary and Derek Drews added 10 points each. It was the second double-figure scoring game of the season for Drews and the first of Gary's career.
The Broncos resume play in the Rainbow Classic Thursday at 4 p.m. EST in the consolation bracket against the loser of the Hawaii/Loyola Marymount game.
