FORT COLLINS — Colorado State remained winless in conference play at home, falling to New Mexico 80-70 on Tuesday at Moby Arena.
With the loss, the Rams dropped to 10-5 overall and 1-3 in the Mountain West Conference while New Mexico improved to 12-3, 3-1. Two of CSU’s three league losses have come at home. Their only win in conference play came Saturday at Grand Canyon.
Tuesday night, CSU started slow and never could keep up with the Lobos.
“It’s kind of the same story with all five losses this year,” CSU head coach Ali Farokhmanesh said. “I think we tip-toe into the games. We don’t run into the fight right now. We got a little shell-shocked with the pressure and you could see it in the rhythm of our offense.
“We’ve got to know that by now. We’ve talked about it, but there’s got to be a little different fight than what is showing up offensively.”
Following three ties and two lead changes in the game’s first five minutes, the Lobos took control. A 3-pointer by Antonio Chol broke an 8-8 tie and New Mexico never trailed again.
The Lobos led by as many as seven before the Rams chipped away and got within two a couple of times, the last at 21-19 after a layup by Brandon Rechsteiner with 7:59 remaining in the first half.
New Mexico responded with an 8-0 run to go ahead 29-19 with 6:58 left before halftime. The Lobos took their largest lead of the first half at 37-24 with 2:43 on the clock before the Rams closed the first half with a 6-2 run and trailed 39-30 at the break.
CSU shot 48% in the first half to New Mexico’s 45.5%. Augustinas Kiudulas led the Rams with 11 points in the first 20 minutes. CSU outrebounded New Mexico 17-15 in the opening period.
Kiudulas eventually finished the game with a team-high 20 points. The Lithuanian transfer from Virginia Military Institute gets better every game as he fills in for injured big men Kyle Jorgensen and Rashaan Mbemba, although Mbemba warmed up with the team and Farokhmanesh confirmed he is close to returning to action.
Colorado State’s Augustinas Kiudulas dribbles around a New Mexico defender Tuesday at Moby Arena in Fort Collins. (Nathan Wright/Loveland Reporter-Herald)“We’re asking a lot of him to learn basically the perimeter spot because one through four do a lot of the same things,” Farokhmanesh said. “To learn all that all summer and all fall and a new offense, that’s difficult in and of itself. And then, two weeks later, you ask him, ‘Hey, you’re going to actually run a new spot,’ and it’s completely different from what you’ve been doing all year and he took it head on.”
“I appreciate his coaching ability, but also his resilience to know that this is what the team needs from me and I’m going to execute.”
Coming out of halftime, CSU was able to cut the New Mexico lead to 43-39 after a jumper by Rechsteiner with 18:19 left in the game.
But that would be as close as the Rams would get.
The Lobos took a double-digit lead for the first time since late in the first half on a 3-pointer by Chol that made it 55-44 with 14:04 remaining.
New Mexico took its largest lead of the second half when Deyton Albury hit a turnaround jumper that made it 57-44 with 12:51 on the clock.
CSU never got closer than eight points after that.
“I feel like we’ve got to be better at the start of the game,” Kiudulas said. “We’ve just got to start off strong because I feel like the way we started is going to set the tone for the game, so we’ve just got to be better there.”
In addition to Kiudulas’ 20 points, Jase Butler had 14 and Rechsteiner added 13. Each team had 32 rebounds. Carey Booth led the Rams with six.
CSU will be back in action Friday when the Rams host UNLV at 8 p.m. at Moby Arena.
Colorado State head coach Ali Farokhmanesh watches the action as Brandon Rechsteiner waits to check in against New Mexico on Tuesday at Moby Arena in Fort Collins. (Nathan Wright/Loveland Reporter-Herald)Hence then, the article about slow start costly for csu rams in loss to new mexico was published today ( ) and is available on GreeleyTribune ( Saudi Arabia ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
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