Rams takeaways: Colorado State takes down San Diego State and the students storm the floor on a fun night at Moby Arena

FORT COLLINS — Colorado State led for 35:19 against San Diego State on Friday night. Halfway through the second half the Rams were even beating the Aztecs by 20. Over the final couple minutes of action, though, SDSU stormed back with a furious comeback and nearly stole a victory at Moby Arena. 

With under 15 seconds to play, the Aztecs took their first lead of the game with a 3-pointer from Lamont Butler (57-56). It was part of a 13-2 run over the final two minutes and a 19-4 run over the final five and a half minutes by SDSU to completely turn the game around. 

Enter the hero. After Isaiah Stevens lost possession of the basketball, David Roddy swiftly recovered it and put up what ultimately was the game-winner with nine seconds left (58-57). 

The Aztecs were able to get a quality look to try and win the game themselves. But James Moors was able to wall up and contest Matt Bradley at the rim and the Rams survived the comeback effort from SDSU. 

“We obviously didn’t handle the pressure very well late but our guys hung on and what an unbelievable win,” Niko Medved said postgame. “What an unbelievable atmosphere and I’m really really proud of the guys. I’m getting a little too old for this, man.”

Roddy led the Rams in scoring (22 points), rebounding (9), and tied with Stevens with a team-high four assists. Bradley led SDSU with 27 points and grabbed four rebounds. Both he and Roddy played a game-high 33 minutes and served important roles for their respective teams on both ends of the floor. 

We’ve already covered Roddy’s redemption story. Here are the other takeaways from the 58-57 win.  

The Rams had a close call go their way but nobody will be apologizing 

The final play of the game was definitely a bang-bang situation. While there was contact between Moors and Bradley, the officials deemed that it was not enough for a foul to be called, so after the Rams recovered the rebound the game was over. 

During the postgame media session Medved was asked by a visiting media member if he had seen a replay of the last sequence and added that in his opinion it’s clear that Moors’ hands came down on to Bradley. Medved responded by saying that while he had not seen a replay yet, it’s a situation that neither team has control of. The Rams had a lot of tough calls go against them on Monday night, something Medved also mentioned. 

“I know when you’re when you’re walling up, or you’re taking charge and you put your hands up, if somebody jumps into your chest, what are your hands gonna do? Do you know? So I don’t know, I haven’t seen the play or whatever. But I thought our guys earned a victory tonight. So I don’t buy it. I thought our guys earned it. I thought our guys played their frickin tails off. I thought that they were a tough team tonight. And I thought they earned a victory.”

The fourth-year CSU coach doesn’t typically get very feisty with his responses, he’s about as cool as it gets whether the Rams win or lose. It was clear that Medved was not going to stand for any implication that his team did not deserve to win on Friday though. And honestly, CSU fans should love that he had the backs of his guys. Moors made an effort to go vertical with hands straight up and the officials ruled that it was clean enough defense. 

The Rams have had plenty of close calls go against them this season, it’s just a part of basketball. The game came down to much more than just one clash at the rim. 

“We lost the game in Laramie the other night, I don’t want to hear anything about people saying the officials, this and that or whatever,” Medved said. “There’s a lot of possessions in the game. There’s so many things that go into winning or losing and you don’t have control over all those things. You’ve just got to play.”

John Tonje provided a spark in the starting rotation

Adam Thistlewood made his return to the court and that was great to see. The senior forward came off the bench and played 13 minutes in the Orange Out win. Making his first start since the Oral Roberts victory in the season opener, though, John Tonje was extremely impactful on both ends of the floor. 

As the primary defender on Matt Bradley for long stretches of the game, Tonje was able to contain the versatile scorer well and received praise for it from his head coach postgame. Medved explained that Bradley was able to get going late, but he felt that Tonje was phenomenal on Friday. 

As a scorer Tonje was aggressive with his touches, finishing with 16 points on just eight attempts from the floor (4-of-8). He was also strong on the drive and able to get to the free throw line consistently, where he was able to make the most of his opportunities (5-of-6). 

At this point it’s unclear if Tonje will remain a starter or go back to being a spark off the bench. The Rams are 2-0, with victories over a couple of really talented squads with him in the starting five though. That’s pretty tough to argue with. Plus, the rotation is still deep with Chandler Jacobs, Jalen Lake, Isaiah Rivera, James Moors and potentially now Thistlewood. It will be interesting to see what the coaches decide. 

CSU secures crucial split with SDSU, moves within a game of second place 

Colorado State could not afford a home loss to San Diego State. After dropping back-to-back games to UNLV and Wyoming, a third consecutive league loss would have really set the Rams back in the race for the program’s first-ever Mountain West Championship. Falling to the Aztecs again would have hurt CSU’s NCAA Tournament resume as well. 

For much of the night it was a defensive showdown between two of the top contenders in the conference, as neither team was able to get in much of a rhythm offensively, at least consistently. It took over 2 minutes for either team to break the seal on Friday, and with 10:16 left in the first half the score was 8-5 (CSU).

Even with the offense being inconsistent, the execution was great at times and the Rams were the better team for at least 30 minutes on Friday night. It’s important to note that SDSU only allows 58 points per game, the fourth fewest in the country, so nobody really lights it up against their lockdown defense. 

What really matters is that the Rams defended at an elite level, holding SDSU to 30 percent shooting from the floor. It took the Aztecs over 30 minutes to crack 30 points in this one, so outside of their late run, they couldn’t buy a bucket for most of the night. And when CSU needed to make a play with the game on the line, they executed to keep pace in the race for the regular season Mountain West title. 

Let the students have fun

This last takeaway has nothing to do with the basketball that was played but I wanted to comment on the students storming the court. A younger, more cynical version of myself might have been critical considering SDSU is not a ranked opponent and the Rams were favored. However, with the way that the game ended up playing out and how much was at stake, the students storming felt natural in the moment.

Wyoming students celebrated on the floor after their wins over both CSU and Boise State this week. It’s great to see the league competitive again, as well as student sections that are engaged. Let’s not complain about students having fun, especially when there have been so many complaints about a lack of student interest in college sports across the country over the last decade.