Colorado State University men’s basketball will be heading home 4-2 after falling short against the College of Charleston and The Pennsylvania State University in the Shriners Children’s Charleston Classic this weekend.

Starting off strong, the Rams entered the Charleston Classic with their heads held high as they kicked off the event against the University of South Carolina on Nov. 17. Colorado State blew South Carolina out of the water with an outstanding 85-53 win.

The star of the night was redshirt junior center James Moors who lead the night with a new career high of 24 points. It was clear by halftime that their first match of the weekend was in the bag. Moors closed out the first half with a dunk in the paint and extended the lead 40-19, on top of 30 first-half points in the paint compared to USC’s eight.

“That’s a physical team out there, I thought we did a nice job out there matching their physicality,” head coach Niko Medved said in the USC post-game press conference. “We understood that rebounding was going to be a huge key to this game, and I thought for the most part we did a great job on the defensive glass.”

Colorado State secured 40 total rebounds in the win.

The following day, Colorado State took on the College of Charleston and fell defeated, 74-64, ending a sweet 4-0 season start. 

The Rams battled neck and neck against the Cougars, tying the game 20-20 with six minutes left in the first half. Regardless, Colorado State would finish the first half 27-37, a lead the Rams couldn’t seem to shake.

After sacrificing 15 turnovers, the Rams soon turned over their first loss of the season. The Charleston Cougars continued on and were the weekend winners of the Shriners Children’s Charleston Classic with a buzzer-beater 77-75 win against Virginia Tech.

To wrap up the weekend road trip, the Colorado State Rams battled the Penn State Nittany Lions but fell short 68-56 due to a slow start. No one says it better than the team’s Twitter itself, highlighting the 13-0 run the Lions established in the first half asking, “Will someone please take the lid off our basket? Much appreciated!”

1H | Will someone please take the lid off our basket? Much appreciated!

CSU – 0
PSU – 10#Stalwart x #TeamTogether pic.twitter.com/6eYDDAt9RQ

— Colorado State Men’s Basketball (@CSUMBasketball) November 20, 2022

Despite a rough start, both the Rams and Lions had almost similar power in the paint, scoring a 22 points there. However, the Rams luck in the paint wouldn’t carry over to the three-point line, as they shot only 20% compared to the Lions’ 32.1%.

Senior guard John Tonje and junior guard Isaiah Rivera took the leaderboard in points overall. Rivera led with 15, and Tonje followed with 14, but both seemed to come short at the three-point line, both shooting 2-7.

After a rough weekend, the Rams will be back in Moby Arena at 2 p.m. Nov. 26 to take on Mississippi Valley State University. Colorado State will have a chance to redeem its winning streak with three consecutive home games before heading down to Boulder, Colorado, for the biggest rivalry of the season against the University of Colorado, Boulder at 7 p.m. Dec. 8.

Reach Karsyn Lane at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @karsynlane1.