Kendle Moore, Colorado State seniors end the regular season on a high note as the Rams top the Broncos at home

FORT COLLINS — Colorado State locked down the No. 2 seed in the upcoming Mountain West Tournament with a 71-68 victory over Boise State on Saturday night. The win caps off an incredible regular season in which the Rams went 24-4, (14-4) and swept the conference champions (Boise State). It also moves CSU’s record to 12-3 in games against teams from the top two quadrants, which should greatly help CSU’s cause when Selection Sunday rolls around. 

“It’s awesome. It’s just what we need going into the postseason,” David Roddy said postgame. “We’re heading in the right direction and we showed it today.”

Roddy led all scorers in the contest, finishing with 23 points on 10-of-17 shooting overall. There were moments of frustration for the junior guard/forward as he had to deal with quite a bit of contact that went unpunished by the officials. The refs let both teams get away with borderline defense all night though. And in the end it proved to work in Roddy’s favor when he likely got away with some hand contact on his strip of Marcus Shaver Jr. with 21 seconds left. Broncos fans can be peeved about the ‘no call’ but it was just one of those nights where the zebras decided they were going to let the guys play. At the very least the officiating was relatively consistent both ways. 

Along with the late steal, Roddy also pulled down a crucial offensive rebound after Kendle Moore missed the first of a one-and-one situation with the Rams leading by 1 with 18 seconds remaining. After a night of getting hacked and likely feeling like he wanted to pull his own hair out at times, the fact that Roddy came up with two massively important effort plays late really says a lot about his maturity. Niko Medved spoke to this postgame. 

“It’s what he’s done all year. You know what I mean? He’s just such an emotionally tough guy,” Medved said. “And we ask so much of him — and he knows that — but he just never flinches. Those two offensive rebounds he had down the stretch were just huge. You know, we don’t win that game (without them). So he just finds so many ways to help the team and doesn’t hang his head. He moves on to the next play. And that’s what it is, you’ve got no time to worry about what just happened. You’ve got to move on to the next play. That’s what he does.”

Fortunately, Roddy wasn’t the only Ram to keep his cool after everything didn’t go to plan. After missing from the free throw line a few moments earlier, Moore got a shot at redemption and made the most of it by sinking two free throws with 13 seconds left showing on the clock. 

The senior guard finished with 19 points on an incredibly efficient 77 percent from the floor (7-of-9). His three 3-pointers tied with Max Rice for the most in the game. It wasn’t just a one-sided showing from Moore though, as he really provided a spark for the Rams with his effort on both ends. Moore tied with James Moors for the team lead in rebounds as both guys finished with five apiece. He also paced CSU with three steals. 

“To go out like this, on this kind of night, that stuff doesn’t happen all the time,” Medved said of Moore’s big performance on Senior Night. “So it’s pretty special.”

Since Moore signed with Medved and Co. four years ago, the program has really flourished. It really wasn’t all that long ago where the thought of five consecutive sellouts would have seemed ludicrous. Thanks to the hard work of guys like Moore, Adam Thistlewood, etc, it eventually became a reality for the Rams this season. And after Moore scored 19 points on Saturday, including the final scores of the evening, he was ultimately showered with the appreciation he deserves. Once the students stormed the court, Moore was lifted up in the air in triumph by Ram Nation. 

“It was a long journey, for sure,” Moore said of the last four years. “Obviously, being here my freshman year, all four years, being held up like that, it was just a moment I’ll never forget, especially after a great victory like that.”

After scoring 23 points in last weekend’s victory at Utah State, and now 19 points at home against Boise State, Moore, like Roddy, said he’s encouraged by how the whole team is playing at the moment.

“Hopefully, I can keep it up and we can keep on getting victories.”

Ram fans will be rooting for all the seniors to play well when CSU takes the court in Las Vegas on Thursday. The Rams will face the winner of Utah State-Air Force in the quarterfinals.

“We’ll approach (things) the same way,” Medved said of his team’s strategy in the Mountain West Tournament. Looks like we’re going to play either Utah State or Air Force. Obviously, we won’t know until later on Wednesday, who that’s going to be. And I think we’ll take tomorrow off, and then we’ll turn our attention just kind of to ourselves again, just trying to trying to get better. It’s two teams that we know, every one of these games is going to be tough. You know that.”