The 50th anniversary of Moby Arena, the day before the 50th anniversary of of the first Super Bowl; it’s a sports lover’s weekend.
For the 4,018 fans who attended Saturday afternoon’s game, they were first treated to a video commemorating the great teams which have called Moby home. Then, they were witness to a great Mountain West basketball game which ended in a 76-67 Rams win.
Of course, there were some ugly moments. Especially if you’re a Colorado State Rams men’s basketball fan. After the contest started close, the Rams went ice cold, allowing the Nevada Wolfpack to go on a 6-0 run to take the 19-12 lead. CSU pulled back into the game, bringing it to 22-20 Nevada with 7:20 until halftime. That’s when the Wolf Pack built their biggest lead of the first half, with an alley-oop finished off by Cameron Oliver and then a 3-pointer hit by Eric Cooper. The Rams missed 14 of their last 15 shots to finish the first half and trailed 33-27 at the break.
Colorado State’s offense was simply off in the first half; clunky, disjointed and even turned the ball over eight times before the break.
In the second half, Nevada boosted that lead back up to seven points with 15 minutes to play. But the Rams kept fighting stalwartly. They kept grinding. And finally, with six minutes to go, took the lead back when Antwan Scott nailed a 3-pointer to make it 59-58 Colorado State. For the first time all day, there was some Moby Madness as the crowd lit up with excitement and it was the Rams first lead since 4:03 into the contest.
With four minutes to go, the game was tied at 62-62. After a missed shot by the Rams and a Wolf Pack turnover, John Gillon’s layup gave the Rams a two-point lead. Then, Tiel Daniels was fouled and hit both free throws. Then, Joe De Ciman stole the ball and went coast-to-coast for a dunk and the six-point lead with 1:40 to play. More clutch free throws by Gillon and the Rams won the game 76-67.
STAR OF THE GAME
Emmanuel Omogbo was the star of the game due to his monstrous effort on the glass. Omogbo’s 19 rebounds were his second-most as a CSU Rams player, grabbing 20 in 2OT versus UTEP.
PLAY OF THE GAME
With Colorado State up four points , De Ciman’s steal was the play of the game. He jumped in and took the ball and then took it all the way for the run-out dunk. The six-point lead was enough to finish off Nevada.
TURNING POINT
Scott’s huge 3-pointer, which finally gave CSU the lead back with 6:24 to go in regulation was the turning point. It had been forever, nearly 30 minutes of game time, since the Rams had led. They had to get over the hump and finally did with that shot.
BY THE NUMBERS
Colorado State shot a terrible 27 percent from the floor in the first half, including going 21 percent (3-14) from downtown.
CSU improved though, making 43.3 percent in the second half to shoot 37 percent overall in the game.
The Rams out-rebounded Nevada 54-36 and 20-7 on the offensive end.
QUOTE OF THE GAME
With Colorado State up 6 and Gillon at the line near the end of the game, Eustachy told his players to “Keep it quiet, don’t talk $#!^”
LASTING IMPACT
https://youtu.be/1oDDNWCjo28
The Rams got back to the winning ways since losing to San Diego State.
WHAT’S NEXT
Colorado State (13-10, 5-5 MW) hosts Boise State (16-8, 7-4 MW) on Wednesday, Feb. 10 at 7 p.m. MT.
