The bottom two men’s basketball teams in the Mountain West Conference, Colorado State University and the University of Wyoming, met again at Moby Arena Friday night. Though there wasn’t much up for grabs in terms of conference seedings, bragging rights were fair game.

It became apparent in the Jan. 21 matchup between these two teams that no lead was safe, as the Rams came back to take the lead in that game after going down by as many as 16 points. It was fitting that CSU would go up by 16 Friday only for Wyoming to make their own comeback effort. But the Rams, much like the Cowboys in January, would hold on to win 84-71.

“It is special to get everyone involved on the team.” -Isaiah Stevens, CSU men’s basketball guard

In the first 10 minutes of the game, CSU’s offense was coming from everyone on the court. Along with the usual high-volume scorers, Joe Palmer and Taviontae Jackson both had early threes. Baylor Hebb also set the tone early, scoring a 3-pointer of his own to go along with an and-1, a steal and a charge taken.

“(Hebb) came out with a great mindset,” head coach Niko Medved said. “The difference of the game was plays like that: Joe Palmer’s two offensive rebounds. … These games come down to the rebounding, who’s going to be first on the floor for a loose ball, taking a charge, and tonight, we were the team that made those plays.”

Isaiah Stevens would then go on to do Stevens things, recording eight assists in the first half on the way to a total of 12 for the game to go along with 15 points. John Tonje led all scorers with 25 of his own.

“It is special to get everyone involved on the team,” Stevens said. “(Wyoming was) really keyed in on me, coming off my actions, and I just didn’t really wanna force the issue. I set my teammates up, and they made the shots, so shout out to them.”

The Rams are down to their final two games of the regular season before going to Las Vegas to compete in the Mountain West Conference tournament. First up is a road trip to San Jose State University on Tuesday before returning home to play the University of New Mexico Friday.

Reach Braidon Nourse at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @BraidonNourse.

The Colorado State University women’s basketball team played in the second game of the doubleheader Border War against the University of Wyoming Saturday night.

The starting lineup for the Rams was Kendyll Kinzer, Destiny Thurman, McKenna Hofschild, Sydney Mech and Cailyn Crocker.

The first quarter was led by Wyoming’s Malene Pedersen, with a foul being called on CSU to give the Cowgirls the lead. Following a steal from Wyoming’s Quinn Weidemann, the Cowgirls were up 9-6 at the end of the first quarter.

The game was scrappy following the first quarter as Hofschild was getting thrown around due to her smaller size. The Rams were on a scoring streak, with many of their points coming from behind the paint. However, at the end of the second quarter, the Rams were still unable to hold their lead, falling behind the Cowgirls 32-25 going into halftime.

It was clear the Rams were getting outplayed as they were down in free-throw percentages, layups and points scored in the paint. Despite having higher percentages in 2- and 3-point shots, the Rams were not taking as many shots.

The Rams only fell further behind following the half. The effort was there, but the Rams simply were not able to capitalize on their shots. Through the third quarter, the Rams were falling in total shots taken, with the Cowgirls leading 41 to CSU’s 28 only three minutes in.

After a timeout by the Rams, Hofschild was able to bring the score deficit to 10 points. However, the Cowgirls responded with a scrappy play that resulted in a successful free throw. Following an impressive block by Mech, Thurman was able to advance the play and score three points for the Rams. The third quarter ended with impressive passing and a 2-point layup by Mech to bring the score to 46-40 Cowgirls.

The fourth quarter began strong with Thurman scoring an aggressive 2-pointer, but it was immediately responded to by a questionable 2 points from Wyoming. Despite the unsuccessful third quarter, they were able to heat things up in the fourth. Adding 8 more points, the Rams were able to bring the score back into enemy territory at 51-50 Cowgirls.

For the first time in nearly the whole game, the Rams were able to take the lead with a buzzer-beater 3-pointer from Thurman. However, despite a late lead from CSU, they were not able to pull out the victory in Laramie, Wyoming, losing 76-60.

Colorado State’s next game is at Moby Arena against Boise State University on Tuesday, where the Rams hope to find a victory before they head to the Mountain West Championship in Las Vegas.

Reach Emma Askren at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @emma_askren.