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Head Coach Larry Eustachy earned his 100th victory at Colorado State as his Rams defeated San Jose State Spartans, 81-72, Wednesday evening in Moby Arena. The win improves the Rams to 13-8 on the season and 5-3 in Mountain West play, while the Spartans fell to 9-10 on the year and 2-6 in conference competition.
The Rams started the game off hot, hitting their first four shots from the floor, as CSU got an early 11-5 lead. The Spartans made their own run in the opening period, including 5-of-6 from the three-point arc, to take a lead at 19-17. From that point, there were four lead changes before the Rams went into halftime with a 33-29 lead.
Colorado State extended its lead to 11 early in the second half on a 7-0 run on five points from senior Gian Clavell and a layup by sophomore guard Prentiss Nixon made it 40-19 less than two minutes in. The Rams pushed it to as many as 15 three times in the second half, but the visitors clawed back into it late, trimming the margin to six with just over a minute to play. From there, CSU connected on 10-of-12 free throws in that final segment to earn the victory.
“Gian (Clavell) and Prentiss (Nixon) can both play 40 minutes. Nico (Carvacho) is starting to get more conditioned and play longer periods of time,” Eustachy said postgame about his team’s conditioning. “The fouls will get us one night, that’s what happens with a thin roster. I told the team that we don’t only have to win this game; we have to win it the right way. For large portions of the game, we played the right way.”
The Rams shot 49.1 percent (28-of-57) from the floor for the game and outrebounded the Spartans 42-29. Colorado State also went a crucial 20-of-26 (76.9 percent) from the charity stripe. San Jose State shot 41 percent (24-of-58) for the game, including 10-of-26 from three-point arc, but struggled from the free throw line, shooting 60.9 percent (14-of-23).
Clavell and Emmanuel Omogbo led the Rams with double-doubles, as the duo posted a combined 36 points and 23 rebounds. Clavell’s 24 points led the Rams, while his 12 rebounds were a season-high. Four other Rams finished with double figures — Nixon (17), Omogbo (12), redshirt-sophomore guard J.D. Paige (10) and redshirt-freshman Nico Carvacho (10) . Sophomore forward Brandon Clarke paced the Spartans with 24 points and 12 rebounds.
