The Student News Site of Colorado State University

The Rocky Mountain Collegian

The Student News Site of Colorado State University

The Rocky Mountain Collegian

The Student News Site of Colorado State University

The Rocky Mountain Collegian

Print Edition
Letter to the editor submissions
Have a strong opinion about something happening on campus or in Fort Collins? Want to respond to an article written on The Collegian? Write a Letter to the Editor by following the guidelines here.
Follow Us on Twitter
Crypto Exchange Listing: Types of Exchanges and Compliance Requirements
March 25, 2024

The crypto industry continues to evolve, fueled by the increasing institutional adoption of crypto. Today, numerous companies are entering the...

CSU hoops team dominates New Mexico to get back on track

In the paint and behind the arc, CSU’s basketball team got it done from all areas of the floor Tuesday night.

CSU_MENSBASKETBALL_PARR_NEWMEXICO
CSU senior guard Joe De Ciman gets up for a slam dunk during CSU’s 86-69 win over New Mexico on Tuesday night in Moby Arena. Photo by Abbie Parr.

The Rams (15-13, 7-8 MW) won on the inside in the first half, and stroked jumpers in the second half en route to an 86-69 rout of New Mexico (16-12, 9-6 MW) in front of 3,148 fans in Moby Arena and a national TV audience watching on CBS Sports.

Ad

CSU big men Tiel Daniels and Emmanuel Omogbo were too much to handle in the first frame for UNM’s front line, despite both of them giving up several inches to Lobos center Obij Aget. Daniels threw down two dunks in the first half from pocket passes off the pick-and-roll, a play that CSU employed for close looks through the rest of the game.

“Coach (Eustachy) tried to tell us to set the screen inside of the 3-point line and just roll because the big was really slow getting back, and they really hedge hard,” Omogbo said of UNM’s defense. “That’s how we got our easy buckets.”

Omogbo quickly discovered he could get buckets around the rim, too, recording a nice 11 points and seven rebounds in the first half to carry the Rams into the break up 37-31.

Then it was the guards’ turn to light it up. Coming out of halftime, senior guard Antwan Scott was piping hot from outside. After CSU went just 3-for-14 from 3-point range in the first half, Scott drilled four 3-pointers in the first five minutes of the second. Both freshman guard Prentiss Nixon and junior John Gillon got in on the early second half fun with a quick trey apiece, too.

Scott, Gillon and Omogbo all ended with 18 points each, and Daniels finished with 16.

CSU_MENSBASKETBALL_PARR_NEWMEXICO-18
CSU point guard John Gillon rises for a rare dunk during CSU’s big win over New Mexico on Tuesday night in Moby Arena. Photo by Abbie Parr.

“Coach kept saying defend and rebound, we have to get back to what we do if we want to be successful,” Scott said. “At the offensive end, just share the ball. I think we got a little dependent on making threes all the time. I think we worked it inside-out tonight. … We just played together as a team and really defended and rebounded tonight.”

After Gillon’s first 3-pointer of the half, the Rams were up 16, 57-41, with 14:16 to go. Then they avoided squandering their lead down to a scary margin for the first time they’ve held a lead in the second half during Mountain West play. CSU extended the gap to 20, 75-55, by the 3:48 mark with three straight Daniels layups.

“I haven’t been able to sit down on the bench with two minutes to go knowing the game was over since about a season ago,” Eustachy said.

Even while CSU dropped bombs from 3-point land, its inside play remained a huge reason behind CSU’s second half dominance. The Rams snatched 15 offensive rebounds for 21 second-chance points on the night. On the other hand, UNM ended with just nine offensive rebounds, and was invisible in the paint, where CSU scored 36 points compared to just 26 the Lobos netted inside.

Ad

“Coming into the game, Coach really focused on boxing out because we knew (Aget) was big, like 7-foot-1, but he was only 220 (pounds),” Omogbo said. “So I kind of just got my body in there, it’s not that big, but I just kind of got it in there and kept exploding up and me and Tiel were eating up inside.”

With the loss, New Mexico loses its share of second place in the Mountain West standings, now trailing Fresno State (18-9, 9-5 MW) and San Diego State (20-7, 13-1 MW). CSU moves into a tie for sixth place in the conference with UNLV (16-13, 7-9 MW), which lost Tuesday night to Boise State.

CSU hits the road for its next two games, first against Nevada on Sunday at 3 p.m. MT. Fans can watch the Rams play the Wolf Pack on Root Sports. Following that game, CSU travels to Fresno State next for a contest next Wednesday.

Sam Lounsberry can be reached at sports@collegian.com and on Twitter @samlounz.

View Comments (7)
More to Discover

Comments (7)

When commenting on The Collegian’s website, please be respectful of others and their viewpoints. The Collegian reviews all comments and reserves the right to reject comments from the website. Comments including any of the following will not be accepted. 1. No language attacking a protected group, including slurs or other profane language directed at a person’s race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, social class, age, physical or mental disability, ethnicity or nationality. 2. No factually inaccurate information, including misleading statements or incorrect data. 3. No abusive language or harassment of Collegian writers, editors or other commenters. 4. No threatening language that includes but is not limited to language inciting violence against an individual or group of people. 5. No links.
All The Rocky Mountain Collegian Picks Reader Picks Sort: Newest

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *