HONOLULU, Hawaii – Marcus Walker scored a game-high 26 points while five Colorado State players reached double figures as the Rams earned an 82-76 victory over the University of Vermont in the semifinals of the Rainbow Classic on Monday afternoon at the Stan Sheriff Center. Senior Colin McIntosh (Milton, Mass.) led Vermont with 22, as the Cats fall to 7-4 with the loss. UVM will now face Colorado in the third place game on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. (EST).

Vermont trailed by as many as 13 in the second half before cutting it to a two-point game, but couldn’t catch the Rams (5-8, 0-0 Mountain West) down the stretch.

“I didn’t think that we came out and played with a lot of energy and that was a little disappointing, while Colorado State came out and played aggressive. In the second half they went up 13 and that’s when we finally started playing and got back into the game, but had some mental mistakes that proved to be very costly. I give Colorado State a lot of credit, they played hard,” said Vermont head coach Mike Lonergan.

In a physical first half Colorado State carried a 42-36 lead into the break. A pair of free throws by freshman Garvey Young (Washington, D.C.) gave Vermont a 31-27 lead with 6:11 left in the half before the Rams responded with a 15-2 run over the next 4:37, capped off by a jumper from Walker.

The Cats went a span of 3:30 without scoring before senior Mike Trimboli (Norwalk, Conn.) drilled a three with 48 ticks on the clock to get Vermont back within six.

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