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With their school record-tying fifth straight conference road win, Colorado State’s men’s basketball team got a 68-56 win at New Mexico, Feb. 21. In earning their first win in The Pit since 2007, the Rams improved to 19-9 and stayed at the top spot at 11-4 in Mountain West play while the Lobos fall to 16-12 and 9-7 in the league. The two teams split the season series, each winning on the road court.
Leading by seven at the break, CSU pushed it to nine on the opening possession of the final period on a dunk by redshirt-freshman Nico Carvacho. At that point, the Rams hit a cold spell from the floor and the Lobos cut the margin to two with 15:22 to play in the game. However as has been the case on the road over this stretch. CSU again had an answer, this time with an 8-0 run over a 2:25 span, all from senior guard Gian Clavell, to take a 48-38 lead with 11:03 to play. Colorado State took control the remainder of the second half with solid defense, limiting New Mexico to just 37.5 percent from the floor and never letting the Lobos get closer than seven.
Colorado State got off to a good start on the road, building an early 13-9 lead with just over 12 minutes to go in the first half. New Mexico fought back to take the lead at 16-15 but it was short lived as the Rams put together a 7-0 run to go back up 22-16. The Lobos chipped away at it again to take another one-point lead at 24-23, but CSU again put together a 9-0 surge to go back up 32-24 with 2:29 to play in the opening period. The teams then exchanged buckets to close out the half, with the Rams entering the break leading 36-29.
For the contest, Colorado State shot 43.1 percent (25-of-58) from the floor, while New Mexico was at 42.0 percent (21-of-50) on its field goal attempts. CSU got to the line 17 times, connecting on 12 (70.6 percent), while holding league-leading UNM in getting to the charity stripe to just 12 attempts, making only seven (58.3 percent). CSU won the battle of the boards, 35-33, and committed just five turnovers, while scoring 17 points off 11 Lobo miscues.
The Rams were led by Clavell’s game-high 24 points, six rebounds and three steals, while senior forwardEmmanuel Omogbo tallied another double-double with 17 points and a game-best 14 rebounds. Sophomore guardPrentiss Nixon was the other CSU player in double figures with 11 points. New Mexico also had three score in double figures, led by Elijah Brown with 20 points and six boards.
Featured Image Credit: CSU Men’s Basketball, Twitter