FORT COLLINS — Colorado State’s men’s basketball team dominated Utah State from start to finish Saturday at Moby Arena to take over sole possession of second place in the Mountain West Conference.
The Rams led by 26 points at halftime and by as many as 36 in the second half to claim a 93-66 victory over the Aggies and avenge an eight-point loss in Logan, Utah, on Feb. 11.
CSU is now 20-9 overall and 14-4 in the Mountain West. Utah State dropped to 24-6 and 14-5 in the MW.
The Rams have won 10 of their past 12 games with two regular season contests remaining before the Mountain West tournament.
“When I look at our team — I’ve been coaching a long time — it’s hard to imagine being prouder of a group of guys than I am,” CSU head coach Niko Medved said. “You look at where this team was in November and December, and just the collective spirit and fight that they’ve had has just been beautiful to watch, and to see them rewarded doing this is really cool.”
Nique Clifford led the Rams with 26 points, six rebounds and nine assists in another well-rounded effort.
Bowen Born and Jaylen Crocker-Johnson each had 18 points for CSU, and Kyan Evans added 15.
It was a season high for Bowen, who continues to make the most of his opportunities in his only campaign at CSU after transferring from Northern Iowa.
“The season is long,” Born said. “It’s difficult. But to be able to just come out and bring energy, it’s kind of been the same mentality for me. The whole season is come out and impact the game in any way possible. Today I felt very, very, very motivated.”
CSU dominated the first half, jumping out to a 10-0 lead and holding the Aggies scoreless for the first three minutes. Utah State finally got a shot to fall with 16:53 left in the opening period.
The Rams scored the next eight points to go ahead 18-2. A 5-2 run after the Aggies made their second basket of the game gave CSU a 23-6 advantage with 12:33 left in the first half.
After the Aggies cut the CSU lead to 23-10, the Rams went on a 10-0 run to go ahead 33-10 with 7:19 left before halftime. The Rams never led by fewer than 21 points the reminder of the first half.
They took their largest lead of the first half of 26 points on a hook shot by Crocker-Johnson that made it 46-20 with 1:15 to go before halftime. CSU led 48-22 at the break.
CSU shot 65% from the field and 80% (8-of-10) from beyond the arc in the first half. Crocker-Johnson led the Rams with 15 points in the first 20 minutes. Born had 11.
“I knew we’d be ready to play today.” Medved said. “I could sense it, but there was a whole another level of intensity from these guys. And you know, it’s March. It’s March 1 and that’s what you’ve got to do. You’ve got to keep trying to find another gear to be playing your best, and our guys brought their best here today.
“It wasn’t their day. It was our day today, but we earned it.”
After Utah State cut the CSU lead to 19, at 48-29, just over two minutes into the second half, the Rams went on a 14-2 run to go ahead 62-31 with 15:25 left. CSU took its largest lead of the game of 36 points, 70-34, with 13:27 remaining.
The Aggies didn’t get closer than 27 points after that.
CSU finished the game shooting 58% from the field and 67% from beyond the arc.
The Rams will close out the home portion of their schedule Tuesday when they host San Jose State at 7 p.m. at Moby Arena. CSU will then play its final game of the regular season Friday at Boise State.
Want more sports news? Sign up for the Sports Omelette to get all our analysis on Denver’s teams.