Colorado State men’s basketball loses 3 players after transfer announcements

Tyler Meguire

March 25, 2019

Three Colorado State basketball players plan on transferring following a 12-20 season and finishing 7th in the Mountain West conference.

Zo Tyson announced last week on Twitter he would be transferring from CSU. Tyson played 13 games and averaged 0.8 points, 0.5 assists, and 1.1 rebounds. Tyson shot 50 percent from the field, providing a quality role for the team.

A man dunks the basketball — Zo Tyson dunks the ball during the first half of the game Dec. 5, 2018. He scored 4 total points during his 13 minutes of time spent on the court. (Josh Schroeder | Collegian)

“Thank you everyone for helping me to get through everything,” wrote Tyson in a Twitter post. “I want to thank the coaches for everything they have done for me and giving me the opportunity to showcase my talent.”

Anthony Masinton-Bonner announced his plans to transfer from CSU via Twitter. Masinton-Bonner redshirted his freshmen year — the 2016-2017 season — and the rest is history. In his first two years of playing, Masinton-Bonner participated in 68 total games. He eventually became a starter in his redshirt sophomore year and at the beginning of the 2018-2019 season. In his first 15 games, Masinton-Bonner was the Rams’ go to three-point scorer, averaging 13.8 points a game.

Unfortunately, Masinton-Bonner suffered an Achilles injury during a game against Air Force on Jan. 8. Masinton-Bonner was inactive for two weeks. Upon his return, he was moved to a bench role for the remainder of the season.

Masinton-Bonner finished the season playing 26 minutes a game and averaging 11.2 points on a 51.3 field goal percentage, 1.4 assist and 2.5 rebounds. Masinton-Bonner also led the team in three point shooting percentage (41 percent).

On Twitter, Masinton-Bonner thanked the CSU program, coaches, fans, teammates and everyone involved.

Players celebrate — Anthony Masinton-Bonner and Adam Thistlewood celebrate after Bonner scores during CSU’s game against Wyoming. The Rams beat the Cowboys 83-48. (Devin Cornelius | Collegian)

“First and foremost I would like to thank Ram Nation for the 4 years I was here,” Masinton-Bonner wrote. “Thank you coach Eustachy and staff for bringing me here. I would also like to thank coach Medved and staff for this past year.”

Masinton-Bonner ended his announcement with “Once again, thank you Ram Nation.”

Deion James will also be transferring. He played the 2017-2018 season with CSU after transferring from Pima Junior College. James redshirted the 2018-2019 season for the Rams. In the 2017-2018 James posted great numbers with 10.4 points a game, 1.6 assists and 5.3 rebounds in 31 games. Out of those 31 games, James started 21 of them.

“I want to thank all of CSU for a wonderful 2 years here at the university,” James wrote in his Twitter post. “I want to especially thank my teammates for a wonderful time and being such a great family to me. Thank you to Coach Eustachy and Coach Medved and thank you Ram Nation.”

All three players will have one remaining year of eligibility.

Tyler Meguire can be reached at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @TMeguire.

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DEVIN CORNELIUS, Digital Managing Editor

Devin Cornelius is the digital managing editor for The Collegian. He is a fifth-year computer science major from Austin, Texas. He moved to Colorado State University and started working for The Collegian in 2017 as a photographer. His passion for photography began in high school, so finding a photography job in college was one of his top priorities. He primarily takes sports photos, volleyball being his favorite to shoot. Having been on The Collegian staff for 4 1/2 years, he's watched the paper evolve from a daily to a weekly paper, and being involved in this transition is interesting and exciting. Although Cornelius is a computer science major, his time at The Collegian has been the most fulfilling experience in his college career — he has loved every second. From working 12-hour days to taking photos in Las Vegas for the Mountain West Conference, he cannot think of a better place to work. Working as a photographer for The Collegian pushed him outside of his comfort zone, taking him places that he never expected and making him the photographer he is today. As the digital managing editor, Cornelius oversees the photos, graphics and social media of The Collegian along with other small tech things. Working on the editorial staff with Katrina Leibee and Serena Bettis has been super fun and extremely rewarding, and together they have been pushing The Collegian toward being an alt-weekly. Outside of The Collegian, he enjoys playing volleyball, rugby, tumbling and a variety of video games. When in Austin, you can find him out on the lake, wake surfing, wake boarding and tubing. You can expect that Cornelius and the rest of The Collegian staff will do their best to provide you with interesting and exciting content.

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