Love was in the air, but it wasn’t just because it was Valentine’s Day. It was the love of beating a major rival.

After a tough loss on the road against Wyoming just two weeks ago, Colorado State men’s basketball focused on correcting its imperfections, pulling away with two recent wins — notching on a third after a 79-68 win against the Cowboys Saturday.

Despite UW leading the majority of the game, with just 5:14 left in the second half, a steal and two free throws from Jase Butler tied up the game.

“Jase’s steal right there, I thought that changed the whole game once he stole that pass,” head coach Ali Farokhmanesh said. “I thought that was the difference in the game, and brought the confidence level and the juice to the arena. And once (UW) called time out, our guys were ready to roll after that.”

After Butler tied the game, Kyle Jorgensen and Jevin Muniz ran away with a fast play, taking the lead for the Rams.

And the rest was history.

“Moby was rocking tonight, and I thought our guys really fed off that; I thought that sparked the run,” Farokhmanesh said. “I thought we shot the right threes at the right times. And then I thought we attacked the paint the way that we wanted to. If you’re going to switch us all game long, like we have to attack the paint, our guys executed it flawlessly in the second half,

Despite a lacking first half, five of the nine players who saw action ended in double digits for points. Butler led the charge with a season-high of 18 points, not only providing the much-needed spark in the second half, but being a constant force throughout the game.

Butler has worked his way during the season to become a starter, and this game especially has proven his value on the team.

“I thank coach Ali for the trust in me,” Butler said. “The more reps, the better I get. So I think along with the rest of our team, we’re all getting better as the season goes on. We want to play our best basketball in March, so I think we’re kind of aiming for that right now.”

Butler originally rejected CSU’s commitment offer and spent his freshman season at Washington. As a Huskie, he appeared in 18 games off the bench and scored a total of 34 points — as a Ram, Butler has already scored 191 points.

Farokhmanesh described the beginning portion of the season — when Butler wasn’t starting yet — as his real freshman year, and has worked his way up to playing at his true sophomore potential, already encroaching on junior-level talent.

“You just trust him on the court, you trust him in all those situations to make plays, and he came up with every play tonight,” Farokhmanesh said. “And that’s the best part about Jase … you know what you’re going to get every night from Jase, whether that’s if he’s scoring or not scoring. You know what attitude, effort (he brings) and how he’s going to approach the game is going to be the same every single night out.”

Even with high levels of offensive production, it wasn’t the only reason that contributed to a win for the Rams.

Five minutes into the first half, Carey Booth made his first block, but the best was yet to come. As the half progressed, so did Booth’s aggressiveness on defense, leading to him making back-to-back blocks that resulted in Moby erupting in an ecstatic frenzy.

“I thought Carey blocking as many shots as he did — especially in the first half — really deterred guys from going in there, or made them second guess themselves with those shots in the second half,” Farokhmanesh said. “His presence down there just adds a little second guessing to (them) finishing inside the paint.”

With Booth waiting to shut down any offensive player driving towards the glass, the Cowboys tried their luck from deep after a very successful 3-pointer game against CSU not too long ago. In Laramie, UW was making half of its 3-pointer attempts, but in Saturday’s matchup, it ended with a 31% completion from deep.

Meanwhile the Rams, increased their accuracy compared to the last Border War and ended making 46.2% of their 3’s. The Cowboys even ended up attempting 27 more field goals than CSU, but lost their momentum in the second half which cost them the game.

“You can’t act like it’s just another game, because it’s really not,” Booth said. “It obviously means more, and it’s great to get wins in games against Wyoming, obviously. So it meant a good deal, and it’s good for our overall season and helping us progress forward.”

The Rams still let up more than a few turnovers as UW was able to get 17 points alone from CSU’s 11 turnovers.

With this redemption win against the Cowboys, the Rams have six games left — including top-ranked San Diego State and New Mexico — before the Mountain West Tournament. CSU is on a winning and correction streak, but it still stands in the bottom half of MW rankings.

“The biggest thing that they’ve grown in, I think, is that they’re truly buying into ‘just keep getting better’,” Farokhmanesh said. “That’s the hardest thing with anything in development, is there is no end in sight. … Just knowing that that’s the best part about it, is that you’re not quite there yet. … You want the struggles, you want the ups and the downs, that’s the only way you can grow.”