Nixon out against UNLV because of ankle injury

FORT COLLINS» Colorado State confirmed Thursday that leading scorer Prentiss Nixon will miss Saturday’s Mountain West men’s basketball game against UNLV because of a sprained ankle, an injury he suffered in the final minute of Wednesday’s 76-71 loss to Air Force.

A team spokesperson said Nixon didn’t break anything and will continue to be evaluated based on his progress in rehab.

“It’s swollen really bad. He was in there on crutches after the game, crying,” CSU coach Larry Eustachy said after Wednesday’s game. “It’s too early (to diagnose), but you didn’t hear anything snap. I think if it was really bad, he wouldn’t have come into the locker room. It’s swollen. He’ll probably be out for Saturday.”

Nixon, who was already dealing with a sprained right knee that required a heavy brace the past couple games, sprained his left ankle when he came down awkwardly next to a pair of Air Force defenders after attempting a game-tying 3pointer with 17 seconds left.

The junior guard leads the Rams and ranks fifth in the Mountain West with a scoring average of 17.9 points per game. He leads the conference in free-throw shooting (88.2 percent), ranks fifth in steals (1.5) and is fourth in minutes played (33.5). He has scored in double figures all but once this season, with five games of 20 points or more.

This is the second time this season that Nixon will be sidelined. He sat out a Nov. 24 win over Northwestern State with a concussion, which snapped a streak of 42 consecutive starts for him.

The Nixon-less Rams (1010, 3-4 Mountain West) will be looking to snap a threegame home losing streak Saturday against UNLV (13-5, 2-3). The 3 p.m. game at Moby Arena is CSU’s annual “Orange Out” game.