FORT COLLINS — Colorado State’s long late-season winning streak was snapped by Boise State on Saturday in the regular-season finale for both teams at Moby Arena.
The Broncos used a 7-0 burst at the end of the first half to take the lead for good, and after maintaining that lead through the second half, they eventually defeated the Rams, 78-67. It ended CSU’s eight-game run without a loss, as the teams now turn their focus to the Mountain West Conference tournament, which begins Wednesday in Las Vegas.
“Boise, they did what they wanted to do tonight,” CSU head coach Ali Farokhmanesh said. “I thought they were the more physical team, and that was the scouting report. That’s the first time that our guys haven’t executed the way that they know they can. But we’ll bounce back. There’s no choice now. It’s do or die now.”
CSU finished the regular season 20-11 overall and 11-9 in the Mountain West Conference. With the loss to the Broncos, the Rams will be the No. 7 seed in the tournament.
While Saturday’s loss may have stopped the Rams’ momentum, CSU still enters the event it won a year ago with some confidence. After starting conference play 3-8, they finished 11-9 and have won eight of their past nine, including a victory over New Mexico at The Pit on Wednesday.
They won’t have long to regroup with the tournament beginning in four days, but Farokhmanesh believes they can.
“You can’t ride the high, just like we couldn’t ride the high of just winning,” Farokhmanesh said of the New Mexico win. “We can’t ride the lows of losing one game right now. So, there’s not anything we need to change drastically.
“Our mindset has to be at a different level of toughness, of physicality and being ready, knowing that it’s going to be a fight and you’re going to be exhausted. We’ve just got to get them back on Sunday morning, this is flushed and it’s a completely new season.”
Many of the things that went right for the Rams during their undefeated February went wrong Saturday against the Broncos.
First, the Rams got off to a slow start. Boise State jumped out to an early lead and was able to stay ahead for much of the first half, until the Rams made a run and briefly took the lead in the waning minutes before the break.
However, Boise State closed the half with a 7-0 run to take a 36-28 lead as the teams left the floor.
“I feel like we just came out flat, low energy,” CSU’s Kyle Jorgensen said. “That happens sometimes, but we’ve got to, even though it happens, we’ve got to get over and keep playing. It’s a long basketball game, a game of runs. We did a poor job of getting over it.”
The Rams started cold again to begin the second half, allowing the Broncos to go ahead by as many as 19 points. CSU was able to close the gap some in the final minutes but couldn’t get the deficit to single digits.
Also, the Broncos dominated the Rams on the glass, outrebounding them 37-21. Boise State finished the game with 13 offensive rebounds that turned into 19 second-chance points. Most of those came in the first half.
“We’ve just got to rebound better,” CSU’s Jevin Muniz said. “They got 19 second-chance points. We only got seven. There’s the difference in the game right there.”
CSU had only two players score in double figures. Jase Butler led the Rams with 15 points. Jorgensen added 14. Carey Booth and Brandon Rechsteiner each had nine.
The Rams did win the statistical battle in bench points (16-14), fast-break points (12-3) and points in the paint (38-28), but it was the rebounds and second-chance points allowed that contributed the most to the loss.
Their task now is to put Saturday’s loss behind them and focus on next week’s tournament.
“We’re good,” Muniz said. “We’re going to regroup. We’re not going to let one loss take us down the wrong route. We’ll come back together. We know we can hang with anyone in the league, so we’re not stressed about any of that.”
Pairings for next week’s tournament were to be revealed after Saturday night’s game between Nevada and Air Force. CSU will likely open the event against Fresno State, a team the Rams split with during the regular season.
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