Colorado State men’s basketball steals road win at Nevada to open Mountain West play

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Nevada’s Brandon Love shoots while taking on Colorado State at Lawlor Events Center in Reno on Dec. 21, 2024.

Calling it the start to a new season is a cliché, but it is apt in this case for the Colorado State men’s basketball team.

Forget an up-and-down November and early December. The new season began Saturday and the Rams are off to a flying start.

CSU went on the road and took down Nevada 66-64 in Reno to begin Mountain West play. In what is expected to be a volatile conference season, a road win against a team believed to be a contender near the top of the league is a huge boost for the Rams.

Here are takeaways from the win.

Kyan Evans highlights late surge for the win

CSU (7-5, 1-0 MW) had led by double-digits early in the second half, going up 11 points with about 15 minutes to go.

The Rams looked in control until the midpoint of the second half. Nevada (8-4, 0-1 MW) cut the lead to 50-45 on a basket-and-foul on Rashaan Mbemba, which sent the CSU big to the bench with four fouls.

CSU quickly was hit back without Mbemba on the floor. The defense became vulnerable and the offense grinded to a half.

Nevada went on a 12-0 run to take a lead. CSU star Nique Clifford missed all seven of his second-half shot attempts and the Rams looked to be in trouble.

Then the late run came.

Clifford hit two free throws to cut it to two. Then Mbemba (back on the floor with four fouls) hit a layup to give CSU a lead (58-57) once again.

Then young point guard Kyan Evans hit the shot of the game. From well beyond the 3-point line, he nailed a deep ball to make it a four-point (61-57) possession.

Nevada never had the ball with a chance to tie or take the lead again.

The shot highlighted a 9-0 run for CSU inside the final 3 minutes to steal the win.

Late defensive shift pays off

Niko Medved and staff made a late shift to a zone and it seemed to rattle Nevada as the Wolf Pack lost their way on offense late.

Nevada forced a couple bad shots and had a couple careless turnovers against the zone.

The idea of…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/colorado-state-men-basketball-steals-003130737.html

Author : The Coloradoan

Publish date : 2024-12-22 00:31:00

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