After losing back-to-back games by a combined 34 points, Colorado State desperately needed a win. The visiting Rams jumped on Utah State right from tipoff and never trailed in a 64-56 win Saturday night in Logan.
What seemed like a re-energized CSU team sprinted out to a 9-4 lead at the first media timeout, led by five quick points from Prentiss Nixon. The Rams (12-8, 4-3) extended their lead to 19-6 minutes later. Utah State struggled to score from anywhere, going 3-of-14 from the field to begin.
CSU, meanwhile, played about as close to a perfect half as they could all things considered. Larry Eustachy’s bunch scored 14 of their first 19 points from either inside the paint or at the free throw line. They put quality offensive possessions together and got a boost from an aggressive Emmanuel Omogbo.
The green and gold led 35-23 at halftime. CSU shot 52 percent in the opening 20 minutes while USU shot just 30 percent.
The Rams maintained their aggressive play on offense coming out of the locker room and led 46-32 with 15:07 to play. But about midway through the second half, CSU went cold from the field. At one point, the Rams endured a scoring drought of more than four minutes.
The Aggies trimmed CSU’s lead to as low as six points on several occasions, but failed to get any closer. Eustachy played seven of his eight active players, four of which totaled at least three fouls.
A bizarre last few minutes made things interesting, but the Rams ultimately put the exclamation point on the Aggies with made free throws. The teams finished the game by going a combined 2-of-15 from the field.
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Omogbo – The senior forward notched his 10th double-double of the season and 18th of his career. Omogbo tallied 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting, including 6-of-7 from the charity stripe. He also grabbed 16 rebounds.
LASTING IMPACT
Coaches would agree that any road win in the Mountain West is huge. As of Saturday night, CSU sits just one game behind conference-leading Nevada.
WHAT’S NEXT
The Rams return home to the friendly confines of Moby Arena. Wednesday night’s tipoff against San Jose State is set for 7 p.m.
