The Colorado State men’s basketball team “got their ass kicked” on Saturday, according to senior forward Emmanuel Omogbo, and their hearts broken on Monday.
The Rams (8-4) dropped their last non-conference home game of the season 69-66 to Loyola Marymount (6-3) on Monday night in heart-breaking fashion when senior guard Brandon Brown nailed a 3-pointer with less than a second left on the clock.
As was the case on Saturday against Kansas State, turnovers and rebounds were a problem from the Rams against LMU on Monday.
“When we don’t want to turn it over, we don’t turn it over,” head coach Larry Eustachy said following Colorado State’s loss. “We’re prone to turnovers.”
Nine of Colorado State’s 14 turnovers came in the second half.
“Most of our turnovers are unforced for the most part,” sophomore guard Prentiss Nixon said following the Rams’ loss. “Most of them aren’t live ball turnovers. So, if we just focus, and hold the ball, and be strong with the ball we should be fine. But that’s not going to happen overnight.”
Nixon, who had a career-high 30 points against Kansas State on Saturday, was one of the four Rams in double figures on Monday with 10 points and one of three Rams that had big second halves. Eight of Nixon’s 10 points came came in the second half.
Like Nixon, junior forward Che Bob saw most of his success coming out of the break. Bob scored 11 of his 14 points and five of his six rebounds in the second half.
“I thought Che Bob was terrific,” Eustachy said. “I thought he put the most thought out there, including the whole team combined, he was terrific. That’s the positive.”
Bob and senior forward Emmanuel Omogbo led the way with six rebounds apiece, but the Rams needed more production than that to keep up with the Lions who out-rebounded them 40-31.
Senior center Stefan Jovanovic gave the Rams a headache from start to finish. The 6-foot-11 big man from Servia scored a career-high 21 points to go along with his eight rebounds.
Along with Janovic was senior guard Brandon Brown, whose 3-point dagger put him at 22 points to lead all scorers.
According to Eustachy, the Rams knew the ball was coming to him.
“He (Emmanuel Omogbo) missed the switch,” Eustachy said of the final play. “That’s a switch. It wasn’t contested. We told them it was going to him.”
Even though Browns three-pointer put the game on ice for the Lions, Eustachy made it clear that that play wasn’t the entire reason the Rams lost the game.
“That wasn’t the game,” Eustachy said. “The game was when we were up 7 as we just got casual and those guys were not going to let you get away with that. Against anybody else it could’ve happened, but these guys are assassins.”
Eustachy knows that his team let one slip through their fingers, but he made it clear that the Rams are already looking forward to their final non-conference game of the regular season.
“We really could’ve used that win,” Eustachy said. “But we will learn from it and move forward.”
The Rams don’t have much time to hang their heads on Monday’s loss. They will travel to California to take on Long Beach State at 8 p.m. on Thursday.
