DENVER — Five in a row.
Colorado State (21-3,11-3) extended its winning streak to five on Thursday night with a 83-68 victory over New Mexico (11-15, 3-9) in Albuquerque, N.M.
The Rams trailed by 2 at halftime (42-40) and there were 19 lead changes in total. At the 12:12 mark of the second half, though, the game completely flipped in favor of the Green & Gold.
After David Roddy was called for his third personal foul, on a play where he didn’t even make contact with the offensive player and then had to sit for five minutes as a result, the Rams were able to rally and establish an 8 point lead with their superstar on the bench (64-56). It was a really resilient effort from CSU and a strong display of composure after a bad whistle went against them.
Then once Roddy came back onto the floor, he completely took over the game. The junior guard/forward scored 10 of CSU’s final 16 points on Friday, at one point scoring 8 straight for the Rams. In total Roddy finished with 31 points and nine rebounds, both of which paced the squad. It was yet another dominant showing from the Karl Malone Award watch list selection, as the versatile superstar was able to do pretty much whatever he wanted in the paint and really owned the glass as well. He pulled down four of CSU’s 10 offensive rebounds. And he was active on defense with a team-high three steals.
David Roddy went full Nikola Jokic against UNM tonight.
31 PTS
9 REBAnd this nasty pass: #CSURams @DNVR_Rams pic.twitter.com/k6EwSNMr6F
— RG 📷 (@RyanGreeneDNVR) February 18, 2022
Really, the defense was great down the stretch in general. K.J. Jenkins made a jump shot for the Lobos about four and a half minutes into the second half. After that UNM didn’t record another field goal for seven consecutive minutes though. They did make a couple of free throws but for the second game in a row CSU was able to prevent its opponent from making a shot for seven minutes or more in the second half of a win. The defensive effort wasn’t perfect in this one, when the game was there for the taking, though, the Rams really buckled down against the second-best offense in the Mountain West. The Lobos shot just 30 percent from the floor (8-of-26) and went 1-of-9 from 3-point range over the final 20 minutes.
Along with Roddy’s third 30-point performance of the season, Isaiah Stevens was a smooth facilitator with a game-high seven assists. The junior point guard hit a couple of crucial threes and finished 5-of-9 from the floor in a 12-point night but definitely made the biggest impact with his passing, as well as his defense (two steals).
In another successful start John Tonje had 11 points (4-of-7) in 33 minutes. Dischon Thomas had 7 points in just 11 minutes. And Jalen Lake came off the bench to provide 8 points, including a couple of timely shots from deep.
Jamal Mashburn Jr. and Jay Allen-Tovar led UNM in scoring with 17 points apiece. Jaelen House proved to be tricky too, as he scored 13 points on offense and recorded six steals on defense. It was honestly a much more competitive game than the final score would indicate, which should be surprising to no one considering UNM was coming off an upset over No. 22 Wyoming. What should be encouraging to Ram Nation, though, is the way that CSU was able to establish a second half lead, extend it, and then basically step on UNM’s throat to secure the road win.
Winning at ‘The Pit’ is never an easy thing to do. The program might not be in the position it was a decade ago but UNM is going to provide challenges for everyone that they face from here on out, as that team easily has one of the best backcourts in the conference. Going into that building and leaving with a 15 point victory is significant. And if you don’t believe me just ask a Cowboys fan.
After taking down UNM in CSU’s first trip to Albuquerque since the 2018-19 season, the Rams will now try to split the season series with UNLV at the Thomas and Mack Center on Saturday night. Bryce Hamilton dropped 42 points in the Rebels’ upset of the Rams at Moby Arena in January. We’ll see what Niko Medved and Co. have in store for Hamilton and Co. this time around. A loss in ‘Sin City’ wouldn’t necessarily eliminate CSU from winning the regular season Mountain West title for the first time ever but picking up another win away from Moby Arena would be gigantic, particularly with home games against Wyoming and Boise State still remaining.
