FORT COLLINS, Colo. — Coming off of a blowout loss to the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels earlier this week, Colorado State men’s basketball could not afford to drop a home game to the San Jose State Spartans.

With only two more regular season games left to play this spring, a loss to SJSU would have all but have guaranteed that the Rams would end up finishing outside the top half of the conference. And if that were to happen, CSU would have to play four games in four days if they wanted to reach the Mountain West Championship game at the Thomas and Mack Center next month.

Early in the contest, it looked like the Rams were headed for a disaster scenario. As a team, CSU struggled to execute the little things on both ends of the floor and they had absolutely zero answers for Seneca Knight.

Knight, a sophomore and San Jose State’s leading scorer, went off for 26 points on 8-of-12 shooting in the first 20 minutes. The versatile shooting guard did most of his damage from deep — knocking down 5-of-9 3-pointers in what was an impressive offensive performance out of the gate.

Fortunately for the guys in green and white, though, Knight came down to earth in the second half and the Rams were ultimately able to play much better team basketball down the stretch. After a multitude of untimely fouls and sloppy turnovers early, for the most part, CSU played smarter team defense and limited unforced errors in the second half.

As a result, the Rams were able to overcome a 3 point halftime deficit and narrowly edge out a 78-71 victory on their home floor. Here’s everything you may have missed on Saturday and a few takeaways from an always important home victory.

Quick Hitters

Seneca Knight led all scorers in the game with 37 points on 9-of-19 shooting. But despite nearly dropping 40 on the Rams, Knight simply could not overcome the lack of production from his teammates, who as a collective finished 4-of-17 from 3-point land and 11-of-38 from the field.

Leading the way for CSU was sophomore forward Adam Thistlewood. The local star from Golden, Colo., finished with 16 points and really was the only Ram that made an impact from the perimeter. Thistlewood made 4-of-8 attempts from beyond the arc and played a big role in sparking CSU offensively.

In total, Thistlewood (16), Dischon Thomas (13), David Roddy (10) and Nico Carvacho (10) all finished the afternoon with double-digit figures. Carvacho also added 12 rebounds to complete his 13th double-double this season.

Looking at the team stats, CSU held the advantage in field goal percentage, total rebounds and bench points. Even so, there certainly is room for improvement — the Spartans converted CSU’s 18 turnovers into 28 points of their own and totaled significantly more second chance points.

• Field Goal Percentage: CSU (50) | SJSU (35)
• 3-point Shooting: CSU (7-of-19) | SJSU (9-of-31)
• Total Rebounds: CSU (40) | SJSU (27)
• Bench Points: CSU (29) | SJSU (18)
• 2nd Chance Points: CSU (3) | SJSU (10)
• Turnovers: CSU (18) | SJSU (13)

Sloppy starts are worrisome

For the third game in a row, CSU looked sloppy in the first half. The Rams fouled a 3-point shooter three different times in the opening minutes and struggled with defensive rotations at times.

On the offensive end, the Rams committed 12 turnovers in the first 20 minutes and just seemed to lack focus, despite actually shooting the ball fairly well as a team.

With the postseason just around the corner, ideally, CSU will find a way to eliminate these slow starts. Niko Medved’s squad has been fortunate to escape with a victory in two of the last three contests, but if they do the same thing when they go up against elite competition like San Diego State, Boise State or Utah State, the the Rams may not be so lucky.

That said, the counter is that basketball is a game of runs, and while it would be preferable to start the games a little better, what’s encouraging is that the Rams have found a way to battle for wins after not playing their best ball. As we will see around the country in the coming weeks, winning when you don’t have your ‘A-game’ is a valuable skill — especially in wonky scenarios like single-elimination tournaments.

Not a starter? Not a problem

It was a weird game on Saturday but the Rams were able to overcome some early adversity and find a way to get it done. A big reason why was the quality play Medved got from the reserves.

In just over 6 minutes of first half action, Dischon Thomas provided a huge boost off the bench by hitting all four of his field goal attempts and grabbing a couple of boards. The big man was extremely aggressive with his approach and brought some life to the floor after a couple of stagnant sequences from CSU.

“The way they were playing me — they were sagging off,” Thomas said. “Coach tells me all the time, if they back up, just let it go.”

While it was Thomas that stood out the most, Hyron Edwards Jr., Kris Martin and John Tonje all made a big impact. Medved specifically highlighted what the seniors brought to the table defensively but it was Tonje that really got the crowd into the game with a monster dunk.

Since the beginning of the season, it’s been clear that CSU’s depth is one of this team’s greatest strengths. If the Rams end up making any noise in the postseason, I would be willing to bet that the guys off the bench play a big role.

Up Next

CSU will be tested yet again with Tuesday’s trip to San Diego State. It will be Senior Night for the Aztecs at Viejas Arena and there’s no doubt that they want to close this historic season strong. Just because the Rams will be heavy underdogs, though, doesn’t mean that Medved isn’t looking forward to the challenge of playing one of the nation’s best teams in an iconic venue.

“I love going there. I think it’s great,” Medved said postgame.