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No. 20 CSU Rams race past mistake-prone CU Buffs in state rivalry battle

pat rooney, daily times-call, longmont, colo.
·6 min read

Nov. 29—Fast break

Why the Buffs lost: CU allowed the Rams to shoot .509 for the game, and CSU went 7-for-14 on 3-pointers in the first half.

Three stars:

CSU's Isaiah Stevens: Recorded the 14th points-assist double-double of his career with 20 points and 11 assists.

CU's KJ Simpson: Recorded his second career 30-point game and kept the Buffs in the game, going 9-for-13 overall, 3-for-4 on 3-pointers and 9-for-9 on free throws.

CSU's Nique Clifford: The former Buffs guard stepped up in a big moment personally, scoring 15 points and grabbing a team-best six rebounds.

Up next: The Buffs return home to face Pepperdine on Sunday (3 p.m., Pac-12 Network).

FORT COLLINS — For the first time in 131 meetings between the state rivals, it was the Colorado State Rams who entered the showdown as the ranked team.

And for much of the night, the Rams showed Colorado why.

CSU used a big first half to jump to a lead and took advantage of plenty of Buffaloes miscues on Wednesday night, as the Rams held off CU's second-half comeback attempt to send the Buffs home with an 88-83 defeat at a raucous, sold out Moby Arena.

The 20th-ranked Rams ended a three-game losing streak in the state rivalry, while the Buffs suffered their second loss in three games.

CSU never trailed after the early minutes and took control with a 10-0 run midway through the first half. It was the highest point total the Rams have ever produced against CU.

"They were the aggressor in the first half," CU head coach Tad Boyle said. "There was no question about it. Colorado State punched us in the mouth. We looked around like we weren't expecting it for some reason. We knew it was going to be a hostile environment. It was."

Although the Buffs made a commendable run in the second half to make things interesting down the stretch, CU lost this game in the first half.

The Rams went 7-for-14 on 3-pointers in the first half, with reserve guards Joe Palmer and Jalen Lake doing most of that damage by going a combined 5-for-7. Then the Buffs made a bad situation worse with a complete meltdown in the final seconds of the first half.

The Buffs trailed by 10 points after a pair of KJ Simpson free throws with 30.4 seconds left in the first half, but CU suffered through a nightmare final half-minute. First, J'Vonne Hadley fouled Lake on a 3-point attempt, and Lake converted all three free throws with 2.5 seconds left. Then Josiah Strong stole Hadley's inbounds pass and converted a layup at the buzzer, turning the Rams' 10-point lead into a 15-point edge at the break in a matter of 3 seconds.

"The made seven out of 14 (3-pointers) at halftime and we fouled a 3-point shooter. He made three free throws, that's 24 points from behind the arc in the first half," Boyle said. "It comes down to the fact we could never string together stops against Colorado State. We try to get three stops in a row, we call that a kill, we try to get three of those per half. Every game we've played this year, even against Florida State, we've had four, five, six, maybe seven of those. Tonight we had zero. That puts a lot of pressure on your offense when you can't string together stops."

The little mistakes kept adding up for CU. The Buffs committed 15 turnovers, which led to a 17-9 advantage in points off turnovers for the Rams. Boyle was called for a technical foul while the Buffs were trying to rally in the second half, allowing CSU guard Isaiah Stevens, who already was at the line, to knock down four straight free throws to turn an eight-point Rams lead into a 12-point advantage.

Still, CU got the deficit down to six a few times late in the second half, but each time the Rams answered. A driving layup from Simpson kept the Buffs within six points with 1:25 remaining, and after CSU's Joel Scott made 1-of-2 free throws, a drive from Cody Williams got CU within five with 54.2 seconds left. But former CU guard Nique Clifford got free for a breakaway dunk for the Rams, and CSU finished 25-for-31 at the free throw line to hold off the Buffs.

Stevens dominated, finishing with 20 points and 11 assists. Clifford, playing his former team for the first time, recorded 15 points with six rebounds.

Simpson and Williams carried the load for the Buffs, with Simpson recording a team-high 30 points. Williams scored all 21 of his points after halftime.

CSU played without starting forward Patrick Cartier who was sidelined due to a back injury he suffered during last week's win against Creighton.

"We tried to emphasize how rowdy it was going to be, and we just kind of let it get to us a little bit," Simpson said. "But at the end of the day, every road game is going to be like that. We were too caught up in the crowd, and when they went on runs it got loud in there. We're not getting calls on the road. We can't dwell on stuff like that. That's not how we're going to win."

No. 20 Colorado State 88, CU Buffs men's basketball 83

COLORADO (5-2)

Williams 8-12 4-5 21, da Silva 3-11 5-6 11, Lampkin 1-3 0-0 2, Hadley 3-6 0-0 6, Simpson 9-13 9-9 30, O'Brien 2-5 0-0 4, Hammond 4-4 1-1 9, Smith 0-1 0-0 0, Diop 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 30-55 19-21 83.

COLORADO ST. (7-0)

Scott 5-8 5-6 15, Clifford 5-10 4-6 15, Mbemba 2-2 2-2 7, Stevens 6-13 7-8 20, Strong 1-4 2-2 4, Lake 4-7 5-7 16, Palmer 4-8 0-0 11, Kya.Evans 0-0 0-0 0, Kyl.Evans 0-0 0-0 0, Johnson 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 27-53 25-31 88.

Halftime — Colorado St. 41-26. 3-point field goals — Colorado 4-14 (Simpson 3-4, Williams 1-1, Hadley 0-1, O'Brien 0-3, da Silva 0-5), Colorado St. 9-22 (Lake 3-5, Palmer 3-6, Mbemba 1-1, Stevens 1-3, Clifford 1-4, Scott 0-1, Strong 0-2). Rebounds — Colorado 34 (da Silva 8), Colorado St. 21 (Clifford 6). Assists — Colorado 6 (Simpson 4), Colorado St. 16 (Stevens 11). Turnovers — Colorado 15 (Hammond 5); Colorado State 7 (Stevens 3, Clifford 3). Total fouls — Colorado 21, Colorado St. 19. A — 8,083.