FORT COLLINS, Colo. - Like so many Colorado State games this season, CSU's showdown against in-state rival Air Force was the tale of two halves. The Rams shot just 21.4 percent from the field in the first half, resulting in a 25-22 halftime deficit.
But the Rams came out firing out of the locker room, using a 20-2 run to catapult itself in the front of the Falcons. The result gave CSU an 87-73 victory over the Falcons, the Rams' 10th consecutive win over its Interstate-25 rival.
The win concludes the Rams' regular season with a 16-15 (8-10 MWC) record as they head to the Mountain West tournament in Las Vegas next week.
“I think this thing's wide open,” Larry Eustachy said after the game of the upcoming conference tournament. “I think if you can get past the first game, it's always the one. If you look at Jim Valvano when he won the National Championship, he had to win the (conference) tournament to go to the NCAA tournament. The first game was a fluke; he banked one in or something, then he went on to win the National Championship.”
John Gillon finished with a game-high 22 points and eight assists, while Emmanuel Omogbo added 18 points and five rebounds. CSU scored 65 of its 87 points in the game's final stanza.
Rams senior Antwan Scott also saved his best for last. After scoring just three points in the game's first 20 minutes, Scott tallied 14 second-half points to finish with 17.
“We were scoring off assists, so we were looking for others and getting paint touches,” senior Joe De Ciman said of CSU's second-half turnaround. “At halftime, coach said not to shoot the ball unless we got a paint touch. He also said it's okay to get a paint touch, pass it out, then pass up the open shot to get another paint touch. We kept on penetrating and getting fouled. We got open shots and wide open threes that went down.”
In total, CSU's four seniors finished their final game at Moby Arena scoring 34 of the Rams' 87 points. De Ciman will leave CSU as the winningest player in school history having won 85 games.
“I'd go on record and say it's been as much fun, if not more, coaching this group than (the team) last year,” Eustachy said. “That's nothing about last year's team. These guys are just so terrific. With Emmanuel's situation, everybody really rallied. So it hasn't been the smoothest of roads.”
Air Force remained cold in the second half, as leading scorer Hayden Graham, who entered the game averaging 14.1 points per game, finished with just four points on 1 of 8 shooting.
The Falcons' cold shooting spurts combined with a 39-28 rebound advantage for CSU provided the winning margin for the Rams. CSU added 31 points from bench players to spark an otherwise stale offense in the first half.
Ultimately, the game provided a special ending for the CSU seniors. An up-and-down season, marred by trials both on and off the court, made this one of the more interesting CSU seasons in recent memory. The fact that De Ciman was the only four-year senior under Eustachy also made it unique.
“What was so special about tonight was every one of them were strong people with strong family around them. It starts with Joe and ends with Joe. He was raised right. Tiel, Fred and Antwan (too) for a short period of time. But there's something about Joe and he was a factor in the first year I was here. If I'm the winningest coach over four years here, then he's got to be the winningest player. That's quite an honor to be able to say that for him.”
Eustachy complimented Rams fans following the win.
“I want to thank our fans so much. I thought we had a nice crowd. I love the way they've been all year. You know, all year, Steve Cottingham and I, and I talked to Joe Parker yesterday, we talked. We got a bad draw with these teams in spring break... here's a TV game and we had 4,200 people. The team is 15-15. That really tells me a lot. It really does. Our players are really grateful and it helped win the game.”
As for the impending conference tournament, Eustachy hopes he can play CSU's Border War rival to erase the naysaying.
“I hope it's Wyoming again to get another crack at 'em,” Eustachy said, later adding, “We've lost to them five straight times. The smart guy would say, 'well, all you need is a sixth straight loss and three times in one year, then they'll really be on your (tail).' Well, be on my (tail). I like competition and I like a challenge.”
Quotables:
“I'm trying to get the students to come. I've been on campus and I've organized groups and I've had team captains where you bring 30. I just want to engage (with) these students. I'm finally old enough and I'm married to a hot wife, so there's no motive about going after a co-ed. The motive is to get them in the stands. We had a pizza party for the band before the New Mexico game. It's a big part of everything. That brings the local person in.” - Larry Eustachy
“It hasn't been easy – there's been some criticism. If I was making $35,000, I don't think anybody would be critical at all. I'm a good friend of Kirk (Ferentz) over there at Iowa and he was making a million dollars a win. They called him million dollar-a-game guy for a while. So I get it. There's a target on your back. We know who we are, but we know who we are works.” - Larry Eustachy.
“So I want to prove we can beat (Josh) Adams. We may not be able to, you know? Unless we do a Kerigan and hit him in the knee before the game... but, yeah, we'd like to, and I think they'd like it. We're all good friends. Things are said, but there's respect for both programs.” - Larry Eustachy on wanting to play Wyoming in the first round of the MW tournament next week.
