Ricks leads WMU to upset of San Diego State

[Paul Meloche]

Andre Ricks scored a career high for the second time in a week, pacing the Broncos with 29 points as Western beat
San Diego State 83-74 in Kalamazoo.

Ricks was a perfect 6-6 from the line and shot 10-17 from the field in his first start of the year. Joe Reitz added 18
points and seven boards. David Kool scored nine off the bench and Andrew Herschberger led all players with ten
rebounds. Michael Redell contributed a game high six assists.

Western got behind early thanks to a hot start by Aztec star Brandon Heath, but eventually took the lead in the
middle of the first half and kept it throughout the game.

Perhaps the long road trip and a "trap" game did SDSU in (they just beat their crosstown rival USD and have a
game against Arizona next weekend). However, Western again showed that when they are clicking they are
already good enough to beat NCAA Tournament-caliber teams. Their next two games are likely not against
that level of competition, but they are true road games against teams from "major" conferences--Temple
and Northwestern.

Paul M.