Colorado State basketball escapes Air Force with win to keep NCAA Tournament resume in shape

AIR FORCE ACADEMY — Deep breath and a sigh of relief.

That’s the feeling the Colorado State men’s basketball team will have returning to Fort Collins after a weird and wacky game at Air Force Saturday afternoon.

The Rams won 82-73, overcoming a 10-point first-half deficit in a whistle-filled game.

It’s a win that won’t be any big boost to CSU’s NCAA Tournament resume, but one the Rams needed to have to avoid being put in real peril of missing the tournament.

It was a slow start for the Rams but a strong finish.

Here’s a look at how it happened and what it means for CSU.

CSU’s response after ‘lip bloodied’

The Rams (22-9, 10-8 Mountain West) were coming off a midweek bye, which was good for resting the legs but not ideal for staying in rhythm to face an Air Force (9-21, 2-16 MW) team that is funky in what it does on offense and defense.

The Falcons play a Princeton offense and defense with a lot of mixing up coverages. Air Force’s record isn’t good, but wins at UNLV, at New Mexico and taking CSU to overtime in Fort Collins show the danger of the Falcons when they’re on.

Early on, Air Force was on and CSU was off.

The Falcons hit five of their first seven 3-point attempts and built a 10-point first-half lead. There were a ton of whistles, and Niko Medved received a technical arguing a call.

Late in the first half, the Rams responded and started to clamp down on defense.

“Maybe got our lip bloodied a little bit and got our intensity going on that end,” Medved said.

CSU started to cut into the lead. A big swing came when Air Force’s Beau Becker (who had 11 early points) was called for his third foul, then received a technical reacting to the call. Coach Joe Scott then received a tech arguing.

That gave CSU six free throws in one go (the Rams hit five of them) to take the first lead of the game for the Rams (eventually it went to half tied at 42).

Settling in late in the half proved key.

CSU then controlled the second half, leading for more than 16 of the final 20 minutes. CSU went up 10 points with under eight minutes to play and it was never closer than six after that.

“I thought we came out in the second half and played very, very well,” Medved said.

Both teams were frequently left frustrated with officials in a game that had 43 total fouls and 54 total free throws.

Another Isaiah Stevens masterpiece

A large percentage of the credit for CSU being able to enter halftime tied goes to Isaiah Stevens.

The star guard hit a floater at the end of the half to tie it, and it was a perfect symbol for what he had done.

The Rams were staggering, and Stevens kept them in touch.

He scored 22 first-half points on 7-10 shooting in the first half.

“As a point guard you try and pick and choose your battles sometimes,” Stevens said. “I just felt like there were some favorable matchups for me in the way we were flowing and I was able to catch some space. From there on, I was just trying to be aggressive and make the right play.”

Stevens, playing his final regular season game at CSU, missed a free throw inside the final minute to keep him from hitting the 30 mark. He finished with 29 points on 10-14 shooting to go with three assists.

“He couldn’t even get 30 tonight? He missed a free throw to get 30 tonight in his last regular season Mountain West game. I’m so disappointed,” Medved jokingly said with a laugh.

But Medved, more seriously, added: “That’s why he’s the best player in our league and one of the best players in the country. I thought he was terrific. You don’t expect anything less. We’ve seen it for five years.”

Air Force coach Joe Scott echoed those sentiments.

“They have one of the best players in the country. One of the top-10 players in the country. Top-two point guards in the country in terms of just experience and knowledge and a smart basketball player,” Scott said. “Any time they need anything, there’s (No.) 4. (No.) 4 is just a really good player. Isaiah is a hell of a player.”

Moby South

CSU fans have been claiming “Moby South” all season in a bid to help fill Clune Arena for this finale.

It worked.

Air Force averages 1,612 fans per home game this season but announced a crowd of 4,647. It’s the largest Air Force home crowd since 2013, and it was definitely tilted in CSU’s favor.

At several points in the second-half surge, loud “let’s go Rams” chants broke out and the fans sang the CSU fight song after the game.

“That’s pretty awesome stuff. I think it speaks to this team and I think it speaks to the growth of the program over the years that we’re filling Moby, more people are coming out to see this team play on the road,” Medved said. “It’s been awesome. We definitely felt them here today.”

The potential can't be overlooked, either. CSU was a dominant 15-2 at Moby Arena this year but Saturday was just the second road win in conference play. The Rams have now won five in a row at Clune.

The Rams have four players — Joel Scott, Nique Clifford, Javonte Johnson and Cam Lowe — from southern Colorado, and many family and friends lingered long after the game for pictures.

Scott and Clifford were key in the win, too. Scott scored 16 points and drew 10 fouls. Clifford had 15 points, nine rebounds and four assists.

NCAA Tournament resume work

This was much-needed for CSU’s NCAA Tournament resume, not because of what it could add to the resume but what it could have damaged if the result went the other way.

A Quad 4 loss to Air Force would have been a serious dent in the Big Dance hopes and made for a very nervous Mountain West tournament week for the Rams.

CSU is now nearing lock status. The Rams are the No. 7 seed in the MW tournament and will play No. 10 San Jose State in Wednesday's first round. It would be advised to not lose that game to cement NCAA Tournament status.

More: 2024 Mountain West men's basketball bracket, results

Follow sports reporter Kevin Lytle on X (formerly known as Twitter) and Instagram @Kevin_Lytle.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Colorado State basketball beats Air Force to help NCAA Tournament resume