Nique Clifford and Rashaan Mbemba combined for 44 points to lead Colorado State to its third straight win, 84-62, over UNLV on Saturday at Moby Arena in Fort Collins.
Clifford and Mbemba each scored 22 points, a career high for Mbemba, as the Rams improved to 10-6 overall and 4-1 in the Mountain West Conference.
“All the things we work on at practice are starting to translate and show. We’re starting to play better together,” Clifford said. “Just trusting each other, knowing each other’s strengths. That takes time, especially with a whole new group that we had coming in this summer. From then to where we are now. It’s crazy.”
The game was tight through the first eight minutes before a 3-pointer by Clifford broke an 18-18 tie and started a 7-0 run for the Rams that extended their lead to 25-18 with 11:19 left in the first half.
CSU took its largest lead of the first half at 36-24 on a 3-pointer by Jalen Lake with 6:54 left before halftime, and the Rams led 46-35 at the break.
In the second half, the Rams turned up their defensive intensity, holding UNLV to just 31% shooting from the floor while continuing to extend their lead in the process.
“At some point, some team had to make the decision they were going to play some defense,” CSU head coach Niko Medved said. “Coming out of halftime, I thought that’s what we did. We fouled a little bit early, but I thought we played a little more physical. Once our defense started to settle in, I thought that’s what turned it.”
UNLV briefly cut the CSU lead to six points at 58-52 with 10:07 remaining, but the Rams responded with a 9-0 run to go ahead 67-52 at the 7:42 mark.
The Rebels never got closer than 15 points after that, and the Rams scored the final seven points of the game for the final 22-point margin.
In addition to Clifford and Mbemba’s 22 points each, Lake added 13 and Evans had 11 for CSU. The Rams shot 56.6% from the field for the game and outrebounded the Rebels, 35-28.
CSU will be back in action Tuesday at San Diego State.
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