FORT COLLINS — Colorado State closed out the nonconference portion of its schedule with a dominating 104-54 victory over Northern New Mexico on Sunday at Moby Arena.
CSU led buzzer to buzzer as the Rams improved to 9-2 on the season ahead of Saturday’s Mountain West Conference opener against Utah State.
Despite missing big men Rashaan Mbemba and Kyle Jorgensen, the Rams scored more points in the first half (60), than the Eagles did the entire 40 minutes. By the time the final buzzer sounded, CSU’s bench outscored Northern New Mexico as well, 56-54.
“These games sometimes can be really hard because of the way they’re played, and it’s so different than any other game you play because they’re a little smaller than you’re used to,” CSU head coach Ali Farokhmanesh said. “You’re switching everything, basically. So as far as the way they handled it like they did, I thought they still responded even in the second half when they were up by as much as they were.”
CSU scored the first nine points of the game and extended their opening run to 16-4 just over four minutes into the contest.
The Rams took a 20-point lead at 39-19 on a 3-pointer by Brandon Rechsteiner with 6:54 remaining in the first half and from there, CSU outscored the Eagles 21-7 over the remainder of the opening period.
At the break, the Rams led 60-26, led by 12 points from Rechsteiner. CSU shot 67.6% from the field to the Eagles’ 32.1%.
Colorado State’s JoJo McIver puts up a shot against Northern New Mexico on Sunday at Moby Arena in Fort Collins. (Nathan Wright/Loveland Reporter-Herald)
Playing against a smaller opponent, sticking to their plan was important with bigger games ahead.
“It’s just us versus ourselves,” Rechsteiner said. “They’re a good team, but we’re trying to get ready for conference play. So, kind of just staying disciplined and doing what’s right.”
CSU opened the second half with a 7-2 run to take its largest lead of the game at 67-28, but the Rams cooled off a little after that, shooting only 53.6% in the second half.
Still, the closest the Eagles got was 29 points at 78-49 with 7:13 remaining. CSU then outscored Northern New Mexico 26-5 over the final seven minutes.
Despite playing without Mbemba and Jorgensen, the Rams still scored 48 points in the paint while also making 11 3-pointers for a balanced attack that trickled down to individual point distribution as well.
Ten Rams scored at least five points, led by Darnez Slater’s 17. Jon Mekonnen had 13, Rechsteiner and Nikola Djapa each had 12, JoJo McIver 11 and Josh Pascarelli 10.
With conference play on the horizon, Farokhmanesh said it was important for everyone to get involved.
“I think for Darnez and Jon and Charlie (Dortch) specifically, I thought it was huge for those three,” Farokhmanesh said. “They don’t always reap the rewards in the minutes, and I told them we’re going to need everybody at some point.
“Like tonight, not having Rashaan and Kyle, we needed everybody again. So, it’s going to happen down the road, especially when we are playing 20 conference games and how quick these back-to-backs happen. We’re going to need everybody.”
CSU won the rebounding battle 40-28 and had 24 assists to the Eagles’ 11.
The Rams will open Mountain West play for the final time at noon Saturday against the Aggies in Logan, Utah.
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