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KALAMAZOO -- Joe Reitz led Western Michigan with 20 points and 11 rebounds in their victory over Southern Illinois, 57-41, Tuesday night in front of 3,168 at University Arena.  This is the first time Western Michigan has held an opponent under 50 points since March 14, 2005 against Marquette, 54-40, in the NIT.

The Broncos (5-6) ended a four-game losing streak by dominating Southern Illinois (4-5) on the defensive end. WMU held the Salukis (4-5) to only 26.9 percent shooting (14-52) from the field and only 3-of-16 behind the three-point line.

WMU gave up the first basket of the game but then went on a 15-0 run that spanned 8:41. David Kool's three-pointer gave WMU the lead for good with 15:53 in the first half, 5-3.  After only scoring four points and going 2-of-13 from the field in the last four games combined, junior Andre Ricks gave the Broncos an early spark with a three-pointer and another jumper on back-to-back possessions during the run.

The Salukis could never get the deficit under 10 points and Shawntes Gary's layup with 3:04 remaining gave WMU its largest lead of the game, 27-11. The Salukis didn't go away and scored the final five points of the half to be down only 11 at halftime, 27-16.

The Broncos continued their momemtum entering the second half when Reitz was brought to the line shooting 2-for-2 followed by a layup from Kool, 31-16. 

Both teams battled hard adding to their scores until a three-pointer from Carlton Fay brought Southern Illinois within 10 points, 37-27, the closest it had been since 21-11.  Andrew Hershberger then silenced their bench and brought the crowd to its feet by burying his first three-pointer of the season from the right corner. Hershberger then drove the lane looking for a dunk on the next possession and was fouled and the ball went through the hoop to give WMU a 14-point lead, 42-28. Kool's second three-pointer of the game moments later gave WMU a 17-point lead, 45-28, its largest of the game with 10:39 to go and SIU got no closer than 12 points the rest of the way. 

Western Michigan took their biggest lead of the game after Michael Redell made his only shot of the game, a three-pointer from the right wing, bringing the score to 57-39 with only 2:06 left in the game. 

While playing tough defense on SIU, WMU was able to shoot 40.8 percent from the floor (20-49) and converted on 12-of-14 free throws. The Broncos also outrebounded SIU, 40-29, including 17 offensive rebounds that led to an 18-9 advantage in second-chance points.

Kool added 12 points followed by Hershberger with nine points, four rebounds, two assists, one steal and no turnovers. Ricks added seven points and a career-high tying three rebounds to help WMU's bench outscore SIU, 20-9.

Reitz' 11 rebounds give him 763 in his career and moved him into ninth place all-time at WMU. Reitz was also 8-of-8 at the foul line to move into a tie for second all-time in made free throws with 449.

Southern Illinois was led by Randal Falker and Bryan Mullins with nine points each followed by Matt Shaw with eight points.

Western Michigan heads back on the road to take on Iona on Saturday, Dec. 22 at 2 p.m.

 WMU QUOTES

WMU forward Andrew Hershberger

(On his performance)
"I don't know if it was something that happened on the court or something the coaches said to me, but I just came out with a little extra aggression tonight."

WMU center Joe Reitz

(On stopping a four-game losing streak and how the team played)
"It feels good to get that monkey off our back and get a win. It wasn't so much a matter of winning and losing with us because the team's we played were very good. It was a matter of us playing well and getting ourselves confident again and knowing we can beat a team that we're capable of when we play a certain way. I thought we really defended, we really rebounded, we really hustled tonight. When we play that way we're a really good basketball team. That's what we have to take out of tonight, that we have to play this way to be the type of team we want to be."

(On his performance)
"When they had single coverage, the guards did a great job of feeding me the ball and coach was telling me to go to work until they double."

(On holding SIU to 41 points)
"I thought a lot of the fact they were missing shots was due to our defensive effort. We did a really good job of paying attention to scouting report, getting out on shooters, making them work inside and make tough shots. I was just really happy with our defensive effort."

WMU guard David Kool

(On beating a program the caliber of Southern Illinois)
"I think it's a big step forward for us. I think looking back on the season this will be one of our turning points, where we finally put it all together defensively. I think that's the key for us. If we just play defense like this and we shoot the ball even half as well as we can we're going to give a lot of teams trouble."

WMU head coach Steve Hawkins

(On the game)
"Obviously it was a much-needed win coming off a four-game losing streak. I'm extremely proud of our guys. They just kept fighting through it all. The kids just continued to work their way through it and we got some of the problems corrected. Tonight, I thought we did a much better job of ballscreen defense. It was not a place for the meek out there tonight, I was really proud of our kids holding up to the physicality of the game."

(On Joe Reitz' performance)
"They appeared to be more concerned about our perimeter game than our inside game and normally their defense builds from the inside out and tonight it appeared, at least early on, they were more concerned about our outside game and our three-point shooting. I thought our kids, one more time, did a terrific job of recognizing that and getting the ball inside to Joe and then Joe started to do a little bit of damage."

(On Reitz having 20 points and 11 rebounds against SIU)
"That might be the equivalent of a 35 and 15 night against somebody else when you do that against a team as good as Southern Illinois is defensively. He stepped up in a huge way."