Colorado State men’s basketball extended its winning streak to five games with a 86-74 victory over Boston College on Wednesday afternoon. 

Both teams came into the Hall of Fame Classic with undefeated records, however, the Rams looked like the superior team in a matchup they nearly led wire to wire. 

The Eagles technically scored the first bucket of the night and briefly held a 2-0 lead for the first minute of the game. Once the Rams went up 5-2 with a layup from Josiah Strong, though, the Rams never had to worry about playing from behind again. 

CSU led by as much as 14 in the first half and took an 11-point lead into the break. Boston College did manage to pull within two possessions at various points in the game, so it was not as if the ACC squad just went down without a fight. But every time that the Eagles tried to respond with a run, the Rams were able to recover and bounce back with a run of their own. 

The closest the game got was 65-61 with a little over 9 minutes remaining. Just when it looked like things could be tight down the stretch, though, CSU was able to record back-to-back transition buckets off of steals. The ability to get out on the break and attack Boston College before they set up their halfcourt defense proved to be a major strength for the Rams in this one. CSU finished the win with a 13-3 advantage in fast break points. And the Rams turned 16 Boston College turnovers into 21 points the other way. 

Along with a strong performance in the transition game, the Green & Gold had a solid showing in the paint (+14). The Rams looked really good on offense as a whole though. 

CSU shot 56 percent from the floor and 43 percent from deep. Continuing the trend of unselfish basketball, the Rams had 21 assists on 35 made field goals, too. 

Leading the Rams in scoring, Isaiah Stevens went 8-of-13 from the field to finish with 18 points. His shot-making skills were firmly on display, as there were multiple extremely difficult attempts he was able to make with a defender in his face. His passing was a big factor as well. Stevens led CSU with eight assists.

Just behind Stevens, Josiah Strong had the best offensive performance of his CSU career with 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting. Nique Clifford and Joel Scott each scored 14 points apiece and combined for 12 boards. Finally, Patrick Cartier had 10 points and five rebounds to round out a really encouraging performance from the starting five. 

CSU’s path to the title will not be an easy one. As a reward for taking down an undefeated ACC team, the Rams will get to square off with No. 8 Creighton on Thursday afternoon. A win might actually be enough to jump the Rams into the top 25. But even a strong showing would be big for CSU’s NCAA Tournament resume. 

It’s been a strong start to the 2023-24 campaign for Niko Medved’s squad. We’ll see if the Rams have what it takes to push one of the top teams in the country in front of a national TV audience.