The Rams asserted themselves as the team to fear in the Mountain West.
In arguably the biggest game of the year, Colorado State men’s basketball played with guns blazing in their 93-66 win over MW No. 2 Utah State Saturday. On Fight Like A Ram day, the Rams honored cancer warriors by displaying the names of those affected on the back of their jerseys while also playing a dominant, entertaining game for all to watch.
With the win, the Rams overtook the Aggies for the No. 2 seed in the Mountain West.
CSU started with a 15-2 run in the first 4:14 of the game and did not let their foot off the gas from there.
With the ball moving around, three-pointers raining down and smothering defense being played the whole game, the Aggies never had a shot of getting past a heavy Ram attack.
“Just really a special day here in so many ways,” coach Niko Medved said. “When I look at our team — I’ve been coaching a long time — and it’s hard to imagine being prouder of a group of guys than I am.”
The two teams played in early February, and the Aggies stole that one away through a strong first-half start. Saturday, the Rams flipped the script and led 48-22 at halftime, paving the way for a landslide to ensue.
“I knew we’d be ready to play today; I could sense it,” Medved said. “But there was a whole ‘nother level of intensity from these guys, and you know, it’s March — it’s March 1st, and that’s what you have got to do, you have got to keep trying to find another gear to be playing your best, and our guys brought their best here today.”
Nique Clifford led all scorers Saturday with 26 points on 10-of-14 shooting from the field, adding nine assists and six rebounds to finish with a complete statline.
However, it was 5-foot-11 guard Bowen Born who — off the bench — brought the spark with a season-high 18 points, shooting 3-of-5 from three-point range. His scrappy defense, high confidence and ability to pump up the Moby Arena crowd flourished and paved the way for the Rams.
“(I) just always want to come out and help the team in any way I can,” Born said. “Whether that (might) be making shots or bringing the energy on defense. It’s been super fun to just adjust in, come into a new role and just try to do it the best I can.”
With starting guard Kyan Evans getting in early foul trouble, Born stepped in and scored 11 points in his 13 first-half minutes, shooting the three with confidence and playing lockdown perimeter defense despite being the smallest player on the court.
“(Utah State) is a really good team, and they beat up on us pretty bad the first time we played them,” Born said. “To come in and make shots — that’s what you put the work in for. You do all this hard work to help your team play the best that they can, and so I’m glad I helped out tonight.”
As impressive as the Rams offense was all game, and especially in the first half, the defensive showing on display was one that Medved and the group will hold their heads high on.
Forcing multiple late shot-clock jumpers, holding the Aggies to 27% from the field in the first half and winning the first-half turnover battle 5-2 became the Rams’ recipe for victory as the game unfolded.
“Last game, we were really spread out and letting them get easy looks in the paint,” Clifford said. “So we kind of collapsed more and we played more team defense, helping each other out — stunting, recovering and raising gaps was a huge emphasis for us. … I think we executed the game plan really well.”
Jaylen Crocker-Johnson had himself a great night, as he finished with 18 total points — nine of those coming during the 15-2 run to start the game.
A switch has flipped for the Rams recently, as they have now won 10 of their last 12 games, along with extending their win streak to five. For CSU, players like Crocker-Johnson, Born and others who play a strict role nightly have come into their own. The Rams have been receiving nightly contributions from all positions to give them as much momentum as ever right now.
“I did say earlier in the year that I thought it would be tough sledding early for this group,” Medved said. “I think when we really started to guard better as a team and dig in — because we were clunky offensively for a while — but once we started to do that and get better on the glass and just realize that we need to win and be a gritty, tough team.”
“Once they embraced that, that’s what really started to change and then from that, our offensive rhythm got going.”
The Aggies made a small push at the start of the second half, starting with a 7-0 run in the first couple minutes to put CSU on its heels — but the Rams responded right back with a 14-2 run of their own to put the nail in the coffin.
With this recent hot stretch, CSU has put themselves in a position to be a potential bubble team for the NCAA tournament. A win like this against an Aggie team likely to make the tournament will likely send shockwaves in the final decisions coming soon.
“The games get bigger and bigger, and each win means more,” Born said. “You just have to approach it the same way, … win or loss, we’re going to come in the next day and it’s like, ‘Okay, we (have) got to get better.’ We (have) got to continue to try and win and play our best basketball.”
The second-seeded Rams now boast a 14-4 conference record (20-9 overall), leaving them one game behind first place New Mexico (15-3 MW, 23-6 overall). CSU’s next matchup is their home finale on Tuesday, March 4 against San Jose State (6-12 MW, 13-17 overall), which then leads the Rams into their regular season finale on the road versus Boise State (12-5 MW, 20-8 overall).
In one of the better Mountain West conferences in recent years, the Rams control their own destiny for the No. 2 seed, with opportunities to move anywhere between the first-seed and the fifth-seed depending on the turnout of all matchups in the final week leading up to the conference tournament.
Reach Devin Imsirpasic at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter at @DImsirpasic.
