Colorado State University Athletics
Colorado State
Chadron State (Exh.)
CSU men's basketball opens exhibition season with win
11/3/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 3, 2008
By John Manuszak
Athetic Media Relations
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Typically an exhibition season is not measured in terms of wins and losses, but for the Colorado State men’s basketball team, figuring out how to win games is an important step in their development. They did just that on Monday night at Moby Arena as they opened the exhibition portion of their schedule with a 94-78 over Division II Chadron State.
The Rams opened up the game on an 8-0 run and never looked back as they led from start to finish to move to 1-0 in the exhibition season.
“It’s a starting point,” said Head Coach Tim Miles. “I thought tonight our guys did a good job because it was the first competitive environment of the season. We saw things that we can’t replicate in practice and our guys handled it well. It’s a good barometer of where we are at. Now it’s up to us to go and get better.”
In the win, the new-look Rams received contributions from a variety of players including returning point guard Willis Gardner. The senior scored 13 of his team-high tying 18 points in the first half as he connected on a perfect 4-4 from the field and 4-4 from the line in the first half. He finished with 18 points on 5-6 shooting, three assists, two rebounds and two steals in 19 minutes.
“I give a lot of credit to my teammates,” said Gardner. “They penetrated and found me wide open and I got a lot of good looks so I thank them.”
In addition to the play of the seniors, several other Rams stood out in the win. Sophomore Andre McFarland returned right where he left off from a year ago as he finished with 18 points on 7-9 shooting, including a perfect 3-3 from three-point range.
“We told our guys at the beginning of the season that they needed to pick up where they left off last season and Andre did that tonight,” said Miles. “He took good, quality shots and he made them. It’s hard to ask for more than that.”
Andy Ogide also tallied in double figures as he finished with 10 points on 4-7 shooting while Harvey Perry added nine points. Marcus Walker, Flynn Clayman, Adam Nigon and Josh Simmons all added eight points apiece.
Colorado State was efficient offensively against the Eagles as they shot .556 (30-54) from the field in the game while holding Chadron State to .375 (21-56) from the field.
The Rams couldn’t have gotten off to a better start than they did as CSU ripped off each of the first eight points of the game. McFarland and Perry opened the game with a three-pointer and McFarland forced a steal that led to a Gardner layup as the Rams jumped out quickly. The Eagles climbed back in the game briefly as they closed to within four points (13-9) before the Rams went on an 11-0 run midway through the first half to take a 24-9 lead.
In the opening period, the Rams were solid both offensively and defensively as they shot .577 (15-26) from the field while holding the Eagles to 7-26 (.259) shooting.
The Rams continued their solid play in the second half as they pushed their lead to a game-high 28 points with 5:26 remaining in the game.
The Eagles were led by Tim McLaurin who scored a game-high 22 points while adding five rebounds.
Colorado State will close out its brief two-game exhibition season on Saturday night when the play host to Adams State at 7 p.m.
