No. 20 Rams Hold Back Colorado
CSU finishes with five in double figures
By Mike Brohard, CSURams.com
FORT COLLINS – On Thursday morning, Jalen Lake is set to have surgery on a broken finger on his left hand, a procedure which will keep him out for up to six weeks.
Wednesday night, the Colorado State junior took full advantage of his time on the court, initially helping the No. 20 Rams blaze out to a fast start, then aiding the effort to hold off a second-half push by Colorado in an 88-83 victory.
“That’s who he is. He’s tough as nails,” CSU guard Isaiah Stevens said. “I’ve known him since high school, and he’s always just been a competitor. He’s a little reserved, which can be hard to read sometimes for people, but once you get to know him, he’ll play through anything for his teammates, and that’s special.”
There were a host of stars for the Rams (7-0) over the course of the evening, each playing a role at different times. There was the spark Joe Palmer brought with his deft touch from the outside in the first 20 minutes, when the reserve posted all 11 of his points. It was Nique Clifford using his emotions when facing his former team to be the complete contributor he’s been all season. It was Joel Scott, being the muscle inside. And of course, it was the calming influence of Stevens, who posted yet another double-double in a big game.
And it all happened as the team had to adjust on the fly. Lake was hurt (he broke his finger at practice on Monday), but still wanted to play. Starting post Patrick Cartier wanted to as well, but he just couldn’t, which adjusts the way the Rams want to operate offensively. It just didn’t matter as the Rams pushed toward 90 points.
“It goes to show how versatile we are as a team. People playing the four who normally don’t play the floor, people playing different positions,” said Clifford, who scored 15 in the game and led the team with six rebounds. “That’s something we worked on at practice this week knowing we weren’t going to have Pat, and Lake is a little banged up too. I’m just proud of the guys for stepping into new roles and embracing that.”
Rashaan Mbemba gave the team some valuable minutes, as did Kyle Evans, but when they went small, Scott took on the role of enforcer inside. He finished with 15 points and five rebounds, and in the first half, the Rams were flowing.
Defensively, they held the Buffs in check, limiting them to just 38.5 percent shooting and 0-of-5 on 3s. In the meantime, the Rams countered by making half of their shots, including 7-of-14 from deep. Palmer hit back-to-back 3s to energize the crowd, then Lake hit a pair himself. His biggest attempt from deep was one he didn’t make but led to a final important flourish at the end of the opening half.
He was fouled on the play with 2.5 seconds remaining, sinking all three free throws. Then Josiah Strong picked off the inbound pass, drove the hoop and rolled it in at the buzzer, the combination turning a 10-point advantage to 15 in a flash.
“I think it was huge. It definitely gave us enough cushion to kind of withstand the run,” Stevens said. “Jesus, man, we couldn’t stop nothing in the second half. We got stops when we needed, but we’ve got to be better there. I feel like that finish to the first half is kinda ultimately what gave us the cushion we needed.”
Colorado changed up the offense coming out of the locker room, hitting it’s first five shots and never really cooling off. The guests did it by driving the lane, the main aggressor being Cody Williams. After missing his only three shots in the first half, he made 8-of-9 in the second to finish with 21 points. Guard KJ Simpson was steady throughout, finishing with 30 points, 20 of which came after the break.
Overall, CU shot 69 percent in the second half, cutting the lead down to five points on a handful of occasions, but they never got untracked outside, hitting just 4-of-14 from 3.
Each time, the Rams had an answer.
“That’s really who they’ve been all year. That’s what they’ve shown us every day in practice,” Medved said. “They fight, they come together. We have some veteran guys who understand that basketball is a game of runs.
“They’re a good team. We know that’s the kind of game it’s going to be, but our guys have been down that road before and know how to respond.”
Lake was just a solid in the second half, troublesome on the defensive end as usual, but also delivering when needed, once with a 3, then followed with a spinning roller in the lane.
Stevens had answers. After just one basket in the first half (though he did have six assists), he would finish with 20 in the game to go with 11 assists.
Down the stretch, when the Rams figured out the Colorado press after initially struggling, Clifford broke free for a breakaway dunk. There was power and emotion in one fluid movement, admitting as much as he tried to make it another game, he played with something to prove.
So did the Rams. Challenge them, they’ll push back.
“We have some tough guys, people playing through injuries, different things like that,” Clifford said. “We know we have a tough-minded group and we just kept fighting. We knew they were going to make their run, as well as we were going to make our run. We just kept with it and stuck to the game plan.”
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