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Colorado State couldn’t get the offensive flow on the road and fell at defending Mountain West champions Fresno State, 78-57, Jan. 18. With the loss, the Rams slid to 11-8 and 3-3 in MW action while the Bulldogs are now 12-7 and 4-3 in the league.
With the game tied at 10 eight minutes into the first half, Fresno State put on a 13-2 run over 3:58 to take an 11-point lead. The Bulldogs pushed it to as many as 14 behind Jahmel Taylor’s four 3-pointers and led 37-25 at the halftime break.
CSU cut the deficit to seven on a pair of Braden Koelliker free throws early in the second half, but an 10-2 FS run pushed it back out to a 15-point lead at 48-33 just after the first media timeout. CSU’s cold spell continued as the FS lead grew to as many as 26 in the second half.
The Rams shot 34.4 percent (21-of-61) from the field while the Bulldogs connected on 44.4 percent (28-of-63) of their field goal attempts. CSU did have the 41-38 advantage on the boards, but turned it over 17 times as compared to nine for Fresno State.
“When you are sitting there exposed with just three guys on the bench, one of them a walk-on, there is a mental factor in this and it is something we have to get past,” head coach Larry Eustachy said postgame. “I look at this team with five assists to 17 turnovers. We are adjusting to the way we have to play and, at times, we did it quite well. When we didn’t, it really triggered them in transition. They had 27 points off the bench and we had six.”
Colorado State was led senior forward Emmanuel Omogbo with 14 points and 10 rebounds, while redshirt-freshman Nico Carvacho added 12 points and six rebounds. Sophomore guard Prentiss Nixon scored 13 points, while redshirt-senior guard Gian Clavell had a personal season-best 11 rebounds to go with 10 points. Fresno State’s top scorers were Jaron Hopkins with 18, while Deshon Taylor and Jahmel Taylor tallied 17 and 15, respectively.
Featured Image Credit: Twitter, CSU Men’s Basketball
