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Nevada Clinches Second Straight Regular Season Mountain West Title
Rams Lose Third Game In A Row
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Colorado State Falls Short In Upset Bid, 92-83
After losing their head coach, then assistant head coach, then losing by 33 points at home to Boise State, then losing one of their best players to the ever curious ‘violation of team rules’ offense; it’s safe to say that no one gave Colorado State a shot to beat Nevada in Reno. Well, those people were right as Nevada defeated Colorado State 92-83. However, no one thought the game would be as close as it was.
Nevada (25-5, 14-2) earned themselves their second straight regular-season Mountain West title with the win. The 9 point victory was a lot closer than that as Colorado State (11-19, 4-13), led by junior guard Prentiss Nixon’s 27 points (7-16 from 3 point range), battled every step of the way. Despite the Rams tremendous effort, their 17 turnovers were too much to overcome.
Colorado State came into the game losers of 9 of their last 10, the last of which against Boise State was their worst defeat since joining the Mountain West. You wouldn’t know that by the way this game started. The Rams and Wolfpack engaged in a perimeter shooting battle for the first 10 minutes.
Then the turnovers started to pile up for Colorado State and Nevada began to realize that the Rams were not going to go away quietly. Colorado State had a chance to take the lead with 1:30 left in the half but predictably turned the ball over and went into the break down 40-38.
The Rams were able to tie the game at the start of the second half and even had a chance to take the lead but junior forward Deion James missed a contested dunk. Nevada’s poor free throw shooting helped keep Colorado State around. Combine that with sophomore Nico Carvacho’s double-double (13 points, 14 rebounds) and Colorado State had life but in the end the Wolfpack were just too much for the turnover-prone Rams.
Colorado State finishes out their regular season Wednesday night as they host New Mexico at Moby Arena. It’s senior night with tip off scheduled for 7pm. The game can also be seen on AT&T Sportsnet.
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