Onward: Rams rock Spartans 80-61, move onto MW Tournament quarterfinals

Here I am, Ram you like a hurricane.

Colorado State rocked and rolled and rammed through the San Jose State Spartans Wednesday night in Las Vegas, Nevada, winning 80-61 to move onto the Mountain West Tournament semifinals against Boise State.

The game started out all CSU and continued that way throughout the entire contest. This was the most focused Colorado State has been in many months, maybe all year long. Give credit where credit is due: To Larry Eustachy and his coaching staff for preparing the Rams so well for this first-round game.

The Rams enjoyed a 14-2 run early for the 17-4 as the green and gold played soundly on both ends of the floor and dominated both inside and out. John Gillon was a superb spark plug, going 4-4 in the first half, playing within himself and only forcing one shot, the incredibly deep 3-ball which dropped. On his stop-and-pop which dropped, it capped a 14-0 run and gave the Rams the 43-24 halftime lead.

From there, Colorado State continued knocking down shots at a furious rate, ballooning their lead to 20 on a J.D. Paige 3-ball. A few minutes later, Joe De Ciman spun in the post and was fouled, made the and-one and CSU led by 25 with 10 minutes to go. But the Spartans wouldn’t stop fighting; they pushed the game to within 13 points with 4:10 to go, but that’s as close as they’d come. The Rams cakewalked to the win, shooting an incredible 55 percent, limiting San Jose State to 36 percent from the floor.

STAR OF THE GAME

John Gillon’s play sparked the Rams and pushed them to a giant first half lead. His confidence was infectious and he led his teammates to victory.

Antwan Scott was his usual self shooting the ball, scoring 17 on 7-13 from the field, but he also grabbed a great nine rebounds.

PLAY OF THE GAME

Gillon’s drive, where he split the defense and then laid the ball up with his left hand, essentially beating all five Spartan defenders, was the play that defined this game. Well done, John.

TURNING POINT

That 14-0 run near the end of the first half was the turning point because it gave CSU a 19-point lead going into the break. San Jose State wasn’t coming back from that. No way.

BY THE NUMBERS

Shooting percentage: CSU 55 , SJSU 36.

Colorado State went 8-20 (40 percent) from downtown; they usually live and die by the 3. Tonight they lived by it, clearly.

The Rams won the rebounding battle easily 38-28.

Colorado State led all 40 minutes of this one and they’ll carry the momentum into the next round.

QUOTE OF THE GAME

“I think we’re a pretty tough team to beat when we’re shooting it good,” Antwan Scott said. “Them guys (Boise State) are really talented over them but I believe if we play defense…it will go down to the wire.”

LASTING IMPACT

Colorado State improves to 17-15 on the season, winning two straight games, and now move onward into the third round of the MW Tournament. They’ll face the Boise State Broncos () Thursday night at 9:30 p.m MT.

WHAT’S NEXT

The Broncos will be seeking revenge following “stopwatchgate” in which the Mountain West refs waived off a buzzer-beater by James Webb III at the end of the first overtime and the Rams went on to win in double-OT. Even Eustachy said it again tonight, that “We didn’t win that second game,” which has to feel like salt in the wound.

If the Rams want to win on Thursday night, they’ll have to bring the same “A-game” we saw tonight.

Boise State wins on a buzzer beater. .8 seconds left. #mwbb pic.twitter.com/sK8TQeov0w

— Rich (midnight blue 🌠and sunshine yellow ☀️) (@RichKurtzman) February 11, 2016