Recap: Colorado State blows out Arkansas-Fort Smith 97-72 thanks to extra effort

Following three straight losses, the Colorado State Rams men’s basketball team need a win in the worst way. Luckily, Arkansas-Fort Smith, a Division II team, was in Fort Collins Wednesday night.

Unluckily, CSU started the game quietly – much like Moby Arena was on Wednesday – trailing for the first 14 minutes of action inside the Whale. Finally, the Rams woke up with Prentiss Nixon’s extra effort and took the lead on two John Gillon free throws with 6:12 until halftime. Antwan Scott drained a 3-pointer from Estes Park which pushed the Rams ahead by five, but the play of the game came at the buzzer. Joe De Ciman missed a 3, Gian Clavell rebounded, went under the hoop and missed but De Ciman rebounded and put the ball back in for the 48-42 lead at half.

In the first half, the Rams shot a wild 17 3-pointers, making nine of them, and it was clear the team adjusted as they looked to play more inside the paint in the second half. Colorado State went on a 15-5 run by relentlessly attacking the rim and pushed their lead to 17-points three minutes into the half.

Gian Clavell, Antwan Scott, Joe De Ciman; everyone was scoring by driving to the hoop. Then the threes started falling, too. Scott canned one to push the rams lead to the biggest of the game, 21 points, with just under 10 minutes to go. Colorado State salted away the win, increasing the margin to 25 points at 97-72.

STAR OF THE GAME

Antwan Scott, with his career-high 23 points on the game, was the Rams’ star. Scott shot a stellar 8-12 (75 percent) from the field, which included 5-9 from downtown. He also had four rebounds with two assists and two steals.

PLAY OF THE GAME

The play of the game was the extra effort given on the last play of the first half. The Rams could’ve just taken a four-point lead into the break but De Ciman’s offensive rebound and putback pushed CSU ahead by six.

TURNING POINT

The turning point came with Prentiss Nixon’s extra effort plays. Nixon stood in to draw two charges, he dished out three assists and snagged a rebound which sent him up and over the scorers table and may have left him with a concussion. That stretch of plays occurred during the Rams comeback stretch to finally take the lead late in the first half. They never relinquished it after that point.

BY THE NUMBERS

Overall, Colorado State went 34-62 (54.8 percent) from the floor and 14-31 from beyond the arc, a solid 45.2 percent. They went more inside in the second half but still shot another 14 3-pointers after 17 in the first half. After the game Joe De Ciman said they have tendency to settle for shots, which has proven true to start this season.

CSU dominated the glass 34-21 and won the points in the paint battle 36-26.

15 of those rebounds were on the offensive side, and the Rams scored 21 points off those rebounds.

Attendance: 2,523

QUOTE OF THE GAME

“We tried to play inside-outside,” Eustachy said of the change from shooting a ton of 3-pointers in the first half to the inside-the-paint play in the second half. “We’re just so far to go. It’s not a bad team, we don’t have a bad team.”

LASTING IMPACT

This victory ended the Rams three-game losing skid as they righted the ship to improve to 6-3 overall. This was also Prentiss Nixon’s breakout game despite his scoring zero points.

WHAT’S NEXT

Colorado State (6-3) plays the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley on Sunday, Dec. 13. Tip-off is scheduled for 5 p.m. MT.