Colorado State survives a late rally, takes down Utah State at Moby Arena

FORT COLLINS — Coming off of their worst performance of the 2021-22 season, a 30 point loss to San Diego State at Viejas Arena over the weekend, Wednesday night’s matchup with Utah State was not a game the Rams could afford to lose and still feel confident about their position to contend for a Mountain West championship. 

With how tight the league is anticipated to be in the coming weeks and the unpredictability of playing in a pandemic, falling to 1-2 against MW opponents would have put the Green & Gold in a really fragile position moving forward. After all, there’s no guarantee that the Rams will get a second shot at SDSU, Utah State or anyone else in the conference for that matter, at least at the current rate games are being postponed. 

Much like they have time and time again over the past two years, though, Colorado State responded to the pressure, taking down Utah State 77-72 at Moby Arena to advance to 12-1 (2-1) on the year. 

“Really proud of these guys for finding a way to earn a victory today,” men’s head basketball coach Niko Medved said postgame.

The game was tight throughout. In fact it came down to CSU being able to execute three crucial in-bound plays and then knock down eight free throws over the final 30 seconds. But when the game was on the line and the Rams needed to make winning plays, the veteran group was able to do exactly that. 

“It’s never easy you know, two good teams, Utah State would never go away,” Medved said. “Every time we looked like we maybe had a chance to get some separation, we just never really could.”

Leading the way for the Green & Gold offensively was the duo of Isaiah Stevens and David Roddy. Stevens was extremely aggressive on the offensive end, creating scoring opportunities for himself as well as his teammates. He finished 7-of-12 from the floor overall and hit all three of his 3-point attempts in a 22 point showing. The savvy veteran paced the squad with four assists as well. 

Along with Stevens, David Roddy had another strong showing with 24 points on 9-of-13 shooting. The guard/forward out of Minnesota was able to establish a strong presence in the paint and although he failed to capitalize on them, Roddy was able to create multiple and-one opportunities for himself in the win. Beyond his scoring contributions, Roddy’s most impressive work might have actually been on defense though. He did a great job of handling Justin Bean, who has been one of the most dominant post players in the game this season. The senior forward did finish with 14 points but half of it came at the free throw line. He was held to just 4-of-11 shooting from the floor in the loss. 

Coming off the bench the Rams benefitted from quality outings out of Chandler Jacobs and Jalen Lake. Both guys provided a spark on the defensive end and helped bring some life when things weren’t going great on the offensive side too. Lake was especially dangerous from deep in this one, as he was able to hit a trio of threes in his 15 minutes of action. If the true freshman continues to light it up from the floor, it wouldn’t be shocking to see his role expand even further, especially with the seniors, Adam Thistlewood and Kendle Moore, both struggling to buy a bucket right now. In total he recorded 11 points against the Aggies. 

Now back to their winning ways, CSU will look to keep the positive momentum rolling against Tim Miles and the San Jose Spartans on Saturday. It will be the first meeting between the schools since Miles returned to the Mountain West.