Rams lose heartbreaker at the horn MW standings
Taco Bell Arena in Boise, Idaho, continues to be a house of horrors for the Colorado State men’s basketball team.
Despite having the lead for more than 30 minutes and going up seven with nine minutes to go, the Rams dropped another heartbreaker on the road to the Broncos, 74-73, Saturday night on a buzzer-beating, banked-in 3-pointer by Chandler Hutchison.
CSU (9-6, 1-1) fell to 0-5 at Taco Bell Arena since Boise State (9-5, 2-0) joined the Mountain West in 2011-12. Of those five losses, four have been by four points or fewer.
“You can say what you want, but they didn’t deserve to win the game; we did, and that’s not taking anything away from Boise State,” said CSU coach Larry Eustachy, who fell to 2-8 all time at Boise State. “I just feel as bad as I’ve felt for a group of guys right
Overall Boise State 9 4 New Mexico 8 5 Nevada 12 3 Wyoming 11 4 Fresno State 9 5 Colo. State 9 6 Air Force 8 7 UNLV 8 7 San Diego St. 8 4 San Jose State 7 5 Utah State 6 7 Saturday’s results Boise State 74, CSU 73 Air Force 78, Utah State 73 UNLV 81, Wyoming 75 Fresno State 77, Nevada 76 Sunday’s game New Mexico at SDSU, 3 p.m. Conf. 2 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 2 now.”
Hutchison’s game-winner, which came after the Broncos inbounded the ball at the opposite end with just 4.1 seconds to go, marked the second time in four games that the Rams have lost on a 3 at the buzzer after Loyola Marymount’s Brandon Brown knocked down a late 3pointer to sink CSU at Moby Arena on Dec. 19.
Hutchison paced the Broncos with 20 points and 11 rebounds, while Austin Paris had 18 points and Justinian Jessup 11.
Emmanuel Omogbo and Gian Clavell each scored 22 points for the Rams, who took the lead right before Hutchison’s game-winner on an off-balanced fadeaway jumper by Braden Koelliker to beat the shot clock.
After holding the Broncos to seven made field goals on 27 attempts (25.9 percent) in the first half, CSU allowed Boise State to shoot 59.4 percent (19-of-32) in the second half as the Rams were unable to protect a seven-point lead at the break.
“We deserved to win that game,” Eustachy said. “It just wasn’t in the basketball gods, it just wasn’t meant to be.”