Printer-friendly version
Updated with box score, postgame notes and postgame quotes
Like our sports coverage? Donate to help support ECM’s sports section!
Follow @ECMagSports on Twitter for live sports coverage and stories!
Story by Liz Alper
Photo courtesy goaztecs.com
March 10, 2017 (Las Vegas) - Colorado State has been the Aztecs’ Achilles heel this season. A thorn in their side. A bee in their bonnet. Pick whatever idiom you want.
But tonight was different. Tonight, in the Mountain West semifinals, the Aztecs would avenge the past two meetings with the Rams. At least, that’s what they planned on doing. But it ended up not working so well.
It all started, as it always does, with Trey Kell. The junior guard jumped out to six points in the first three minutes. It was followed by the Aztecs’ stellar defense, who held Colorado State to just five points in 12 and a half minutes. They eventually made it to double digits--that’s unavoidable--but the Aztecs did something they haven’t done in a long, long time: rebound. Defensively and offensively. And for the first time this season, they stumped the Rams. They did something else they don’t do a lot: force turnovers. Even when Colorado State started to creep back a little, the Aztecs held their ground and did what they had to do. But as with every halfway decent SDSU start this season, the hype started to fizzle out at the six minute mark, thanks to no offensive production, bad defense, better CSU offense and--guess who--redshirt senior Gian Clavell. Despite the grinding halt, the Aztecs produced when they could, drew fouls and didn’t let CSU get a lead, although they did allow Clavell to tie the game at 30 with a deep two with two and a half minutes left in the first half. But in the last two minutes, SDSU seemed to get their mojo back, adding six points to reclaim the lead. They went to the locker room up 36-30.
Both teams started the second half rather slowly, with Colorado State getting the first two points in the first minute and a half. There was a lot of turning the ball over, a lot of ball-stripping and just a back and forth mess in general. The scoring kicked in around the 10-minute mark, but it wasn’t SDSU doing the scoring. The Rams, led by Clavell, charged to within one point, 50-49. The Rams eventually took their first lead of the game with 5:56 remaining. The Aztecs stopped rebounding, they stopped producing, they stopped caring, they stopped trying, they stopped everything once the Rams hit back-to-back threes, the dagger in any basketball team’s heart. Apparently, SDSU was fine with having their season end tonight as they make the long, sad trek back to California after losing to the Rams 71-63.
Recent comments