Bonner's career day helps Colorado State Rams roar past Lions

FORT COLLINS – With Mountain West conference play about three weeks away, folks are still trying to figure out this young Colorado State team. The Rams got a 93-69 win Tuesday night over Arkansas-Fort Smith, a Division II team in the Heartland Conference.

CSU improved to 7-2 on the season.

Both teams shot the ball well in the first half, though turnovers jumped out as the key stat. The Lions turned it over 10 times, leading to 15 points for CSU. Though the Rams shot 58 percent in the first half, Arkansas-Fort Smith took a 14-13 rebounding edge into halftime.

Anthony Bonner and Che Bob paced the Rams with an early 10 points apiece. The green and gold led 40-34 at the break.

Head coach Larry Eustachy said that he challenged his guys in the locker room.

“I thought they responded for sure,” Eustachy said. “And grew up a bit.”

CSU obviously got the message and quickly extended their lead in the second half, outscoring the Lions 53-35 the rest of the way. Bonner, a freshman out of Kansas, remained in the thick of things. The youngster finished with 17 points, his best offensive performance as a Ram.

“It’s a good feeling,” said Bonner. “But all credit to my teammates for just finding me in rhythm. Yesterday in practice, we worked a lot on moving for each other, looking for each other, getting double ball reversals. So I just think our team chemistry played a big part in it.”

Eustachy’s bunch would cruise the rest of the way, in large part thanks to the offense.

“We worked on our offense a lot the last couple days,” said Eustachy. “I thought it showed up with the assist-to-turnover ratio. We didn’t run over guys. We did a nice job of stopping short of that and pivoting. We got the ball reversed if you noticed. In transition, we scored, we got to the foul line. The opponent was not a stiff by any means. I thought our team grew a little bit through this game knowing who we have to play Saturday.”

It wasn’t just Bonner though who did the damage. Bob also notched a new career-high with 21 points to go with five rebounds. Devocio Butler added 13 points, Emmanuel Omogbo put up 11 points and Prentiss Nixon recorded 10 points.

It marked the first time since February 13 against UNLV that five Rams got into double figures.

Now the Rams will prepare for the University of Northern Colorado, who knocked them off a year ago in Greeley. It’s a loss Eustachy calls the most difficult he’s had in his time at CSU.

Following that game Saturday afternoon, CSU will have a full week off to get ready for a matchup at Pepsi Center against Kansas State. Along with last week’s meetings with Colorado and Wichita State, the upcoming contest with the Wildcats serves as a marquee game.

But Eustachy explained that the chance to take a step back for a handful of days and practice will be huge.

“We played a lot of games in a short period of time,” said Eustachy. “I felt a little tired before the game. I’m sure these guys are a little tired.”

PLAYERS OF THE GAME

Anthony Bonner – The freshman went 4-of-5 from the field, including 3-of-4 from beyond the arc. He also shot 6-of-6 at the free throw line on his way to 17 points.

Che Bob – Eustachy called Bob’s performance the best-quality basketball he’s played in his life. In his first start, he went 8-of-9 from the field and 5-of-6 from the charity stripe. Bob had a game-high 21 points.

BY THE NUMBERS

48 – Points in the paint for the Rams, more than half their total for the game

37 – Points off 23 turnovers by the Lions

63 – Field goal percentage for CSU in this one

WHAT’S NEXT

CSU hosts Northern Colorado on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m.