Colorado State cruises to 77-66 win over Nevada

Share this: Email | Facebook | X

FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) - Colton Iverson had 21 points and nine rebounds as Colorado State secured the No. 2 seed for the upcoming Mountain West Conference tournament with a 77-66 victory over Nevada on Saturday night.

Wes Eikmeier added 20 points, and Pierce Hornung had 16 points and 13 rebounds, for Colorado State (24-7, 11-5 Mountain West), which set a school record for wins in a regular season.

Colorado State lost guard Dorian Green midway through the first half. Green, the team's second-leading scorer, suffered an injury to his right ankle.

The Rams draw No. 7 seed Fresno State as their first opponent on Wednesday.

Deonte Burton had 27 points for Nevada (12-18, 3-13), losers of seven straight. Malik Story had 14 for the Wolf Pack, who suffered their sixth consecutive road loss.

Nevada, the No. 9 seed, will face eighth-seeded Wyoming in the conference tournament's play-in game.

Nevada tightened its defense in the first 6 minutes of the second half, allowing only three field goals, all dunks. The Wolf Pack was able to close the gap to 46-32 after two short-range shots by Jordan Burris.

Iverson muscled in a three-point play and Eikmeier sank a 3-pointer to get Colorado's State's lead back to 57-37 with 10:01 remaining. Burton scored seven points during a 16-8 run that got Nevada within 61-53 with 4:05 left.

Nevada closed the gap to 63-56 with Burton's baseline jumper with 1:56 to play, but the Wolf Pack never got closer. Colorado State made 14 straight free throws, eight by Eikmeier, the rest of the way.

Iverson had 11 points and Hornung 10 as the Rams went to work on the interior of Nevada's defense in the first half. Colorado had a 23-10 edge in the paint and led 39-21 at halftime.

Greg Smith's dunk put the Rams up 25-11, seconds before Green limped off the floor with 11:25 left in the half. Green watched the rest of the period with an ice pack on his ankle.

Burton, who had 11 in the first half, had a dunk to get the Wolf Pack as close as 28-16 before halftime.

Comments

Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.

Sign in to comment