Colorado State used a second-half run to pull away from Air Force and secure an 82-73 win in its regular-season finale Saturday at Clune Arena at the Air Force Academy.
Colorado State (22-9 overall, 10-8 Mountain West Conference), picked up just its second league road victory of the season as the Rams also won their second straight game following a three-game losing streak.
The Rams will now wait to see where they are seeded in the Mountain West tournament, which is scheduled to begin Wednesday in Las Vegas.
CSU trailed for most of the first half, by as many as 10 points with 5 minutes, 51 seconds left before halftime. But a 9-0 run got it within one at 31-30 after a 3-pointer by Nique Clifford with 3:54 left until the break.
The Rams’ first lead of the game came on a free throw by Isaiah Stevens with 1:32 left in the first half. Air Force briefly retook it before a jumper by Stevens tied the game at 42 at halftime.
A 3-pointer by Patrick Cartier less than four minutes into the second half gave the Rams a 48-47 lead and they never trailed again.
With 7:43 left, a free throw by Joel Scott put the Rams up 66-56, and CSU took its largest lead of the game at 81-69 on a layup by Jalen Lake with 42 seconds left.
Stevens led the Rams with 29 points, despite having to spend some time on the bench with four fouls. Scott added 16 and Clifford 15 for CSU.
The Rams’ second-half surge came about in large part from a 73.7% shooting performance in the final 20 minutes. That came after they shot 59.1% in the first half. CSU made its last 10 field goal attempts to hold off any kind of a comeback attempt by the Falcons.
Once all of Saturday’s Mountain West games are completed, the league will seed the teams for the postseason tournament. With back-to-back wins going into the event, the Rams will have some momentum entering the event.