COLORADO STATE MEN FALL TO BOISE STATE AT HOME
FORT COLLINS >> John Tonje had his game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer blocked and Colorado State fell to Boise State, 80-78, Wednesday night at Moby Arena.
Tonje’s failed attempt came nine seconds after Isaiah Stevens’ made a 3-pointer to cut a 79-75 Boise State lead to 79-78. The Rams quickly fouled the Broncos, who made the first of two free throws to go ahead by two. The second free throw was missed with six seconds left. CSU’s Tavi Jackson grabbed the rebound and got the ball to Tonje for the final shot.
With the loss, the Rams fell to 11-15 overall and 3-10 in the Mountain West Conference. CSU has lost 11 of its last 14 games.
“Tough night, I’m getting tired of tough nights,” head coach Niko Medved said. “We came out and had fight tonight, we did some good things, but in my opinion that was a game we should’ve won there. We didn’t make enough winning plays.”
After leading for most of the first half, the Rams were down 36-31 at halftime. CSU led 30-23 before the Broncos closed the period with a 13-1 run.
Boise State maintained control for much of the second half, taking a 10-point lead at 48-38 with 15:31 left in the game. The Rams rallied back and third the game at 50 with 11:47 remaining, but the Broncos retook the lead and held it for a few minutes.
Tonje completed a fourpoint play to give the Rams their first lead of the second half at 65-64 with 6:19 left. CSU went up 67-64 on a layup by Stevens, but the Broncos came back again and the score was tied at 69 with 4:05 to go.
The Broncos took the lead on their next possession and never relinquished it in the game’s final minutes.
“I think the rebounding was missing,” Tonje said. “A lot of offensive rebounds just killed us, honestly. Basketball is a game of runs, and they made good runs. We have to go play by play and we didn’t come out in the end.”
In the first half, the Rams took the lead immediately and had a 26-16 advantage, their largest of the game, with 7:04 to go before halftime. But Boise State clawed back, eventually outscoring CSU 20-5 over the remaining seven minutes of the period.
Patrick Cartier led the Rams with 18 points. Stevens added 17, Tonje 16 and Isaiah Rivera 13. Stevens also added 12 assists for his 10th career double-double.
The senior and newlycrowned all-time program assists leader went down early in the game with an ankle injury but played on. As the second half wore on, he began to limp and appeared to be in pain.
“Obviously, he’s going to be at the top of the scouting report,” Medved said.
“I think he missed some shots he would normally make, but he still had a big impact in the first half. He was hurting pretty good, but he wasn’t coming out of this game.”
CSU shot 51.8% from the field and were 13-of-22 from long range. The Rams were outrebounded 34-25 and lost the scoring battle in the paint and the number of second-chance points.
The Rams will be back in action Saturday at Fresno State. There are only five games remaining in the regular season.
“We’re not looking back at things,” Rivera said. “We’re just living in the moment, the only thing we can do is get better every day.”