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No. 10 Colorado State let a 15-point first-half lead slip away and eventually fell to No. 7 Utah State, 76-65, in the Mountain West Tournament First Round, March 7. With the loss, the Rams ended their season at 11-21, while the Aggies improved to 16-16 and advanced to tomorrow’s quarterfinal meeting with No. 2 seed Boise State.
With just two points separating the teams at the break, Utah State grabbed its first lead of the game on a conventional three-point play by Koby McEwen. The teams exchanged small leads before the Aggies grabbed the lead for good on back-to-back jumpers by Sam Merrill to go up 47-44 with 14:13 remaining. CSU cut it to one on several occasions and had it down to a one-possession game at 68-65 with 4:28 to play. However, those would be the last points the Rams would score, as the Aggies scored the final eight points of the game over the last 4:28 to earn the victory.
The Rams opened the game strong, scoring 20 of the first 25 points in the contest to take a 15-point lead with 11:22 to go in the first half. Utah State chipped away at the lead, eventually tying at 30 with under two minutes to go. The teams exchanged three pointers before redshirt-sophomore Nico Carvacho hit a pair of free throws and the Rams made a stop on the final possession to give CSU a slim 35-33 halftime lead. Junior Prentiss Nixon led CSU with 11 points, while Julion Pearre had 12 in the opening 20 minutes for Utah State.
Colorado State finished the game at just 39.1 percent (25-of-64) from the floor but a solid 42.1 percent (8-of-19) from beyond the arc. Utah State was 50.0 percent (28-of-56) on field goal attempts but just 28.0 percent (7-of-25) on three pointers. The Aggies were 13-of-18 at the free throw line as compared to just 7-of-14 for the Rams. USU won the boards 40-31, but turned over seven more times (15 to 8) that resulted in a 14-2 advantage in points off turnovers for CSU.
CSU was paced by redshirt-sophomore Anthony Bonner‘s 15 points, with Nixon right behind at 14 and seven rebounds. Senior Che Bob finished with 12 while Carvacho and junior Deion James tied for game-high honors with 10 rebounds each. Utah State had four players in double figures, led by McEwen with 25 points along with six rebounds and four assists.
Utah State now leads the overall series 54-39, including two wins at the Mountain West Tournament (the only two neutral court meetings in series history). CSU is now 14-18 all-time in the Mountain West Tournament, bowing out in its first game for the just the ninth time in the 19-year history of the event. Nixon now ranks 20th on CSU’s all-time scoring chart at 1058, passing four players in today’s game and is four points behind last year’s MW Player of the Year Gian Clavell in 18th at 1062. Carvacho recorded double-digit rebounds in the last 16 games of the 2017-18 season and finished with 331, the fifth best single-season mark in school history. Carvacho moved into the top 20 on CSU’s career rebounding chart with his performance today, finishing his first two years with 536 (started at 526) and moving into 20th past Greg Smith (2009-13) at 531.