The Colorado State men’s basketball team dropped a third consecutive game Thursday night, losing to Long Beach State 56-55 on the road. The Rams have now lost to the 49ers in consecutive seasons and after going 6-1 in the month of November, Colorado State is sitting at 3-3 in December.

After trailing for the majority of the ballgame, a 12-0 run late in the second half cut what was a double-digit 49ers lead to three. With 1:44 remaining, Colorado State regained the lead 53-52, but unfortunately for Larry Eustachy’s Rams, the comeback effort fell short when Roschon Prince made a game-winning layup with just a few seconds left on the clock.

Tonight marks back-to-back games in which the Rams have lost on a last-second bucket and the common theme in both of these matchups was rebounding. Colorado State got dominated on the glass 56-45 and just before the 49ers were able to make the game-winning layup, they secured an offensive rebound to do so.

Along with being dominated on the glass, the Rams shooting woes once again plagued them in a close game. Finishing 22-68 from the floor (32 percent) and 8-20 from the free throw line, CSU simply failed to execute tonight and it cost them a game they had multiple opportunities to win.

No scorers reached double figures for CSU, but Che Bob, Nico Carvacho and Prentiss Nixon led the way with nine points apiece. Gian Clavell (2-12) struggled mightily, missing his first ten shots before finally making his first bucket of the night with two minutes remaining in the contest.

Colorado State will take the court again Wed. Dec. 28, when they host UNLV in the first conference game of the season.

Collegian sports reporter Justin Michael can be reached by email at sports@collegian.com or Twitter @JustinTMichael.