LARAMIE, Wyo. — With just a tick less than five minutes gone in the first half Saturday at Wyoming, Colorado State’s Isaiah Stevens dished the ball to John Tonje on the wing where Tonje drained a 3-pointer.
For Stevens, it was assist No. 531, breaking the longtime record held by Ryan Yoder, the current Resurrection Christian boys basketball coach who had set the program mark of 530 back in 1993-94.
While the mark was worth celebrating, the Rams didn’t get the result they were looking for on their trip across the border Saturday to face the Cowboys, losing a tight game for the third time in their last four, 58-57.
CSU shot just 38% from the floor and turned the ball over 12 times in the first half as they dug themselves a hole. They made a late run in the second half, but after finally taking the lead, they couldn’t hold onto it.
It was Wyoming’s first Mountain West victory while the Rams fell to 10-11 and 2-6 in conference play.
“That’s four games in a row that have come down to the last possession,” CSU head coach Niko Medved said. “We’ve put ourselves in position to win these games and we have won one of them and let three slip away. I don’t know why.
“I thought the game was lost in the first half. I didn’t think we were very strong with the ball. I thought, uncharacteristically, we missed a lot of bonnies at the rim. I don’t know what was going on there. We missed a lot of layups, uncharacteristic turnovers.”
CSU trailed by 14 at halftime and 16 after the Cowboys scored the first basket of the second half. From there, the Rams started to chip away at the Wyoming lead.
A pair of free throws by Patrick Cartier with 9:30 left started a 15-0 run for the Rams that eventually gave them a two-point lead, their first of the game. As part of that run, a layup by Cartier tied the game at 45 with 6:40 remaining and a pair of free throws by Tonje gave CSU a 47-45 advantage with 5:56 to go.
“It was attention to detail,” Stevens said of the second-half run by the Rams. “We didn’t turn the ball over nearly as much. We finished in the paint a lot more. We were loaded on our guys defensively.”
But the Cowboys scored seven of the next eight points to go ahead 52-48 with 4:32 left. The teams traded the lead a couple of times until the game was tied at 57 with 1:38 to go.
CSU missed a chance to take the lead with 51 seconds remaining, as Jalen Lake missed a field goal, and a shot clock violation further hampered their chances in the final minute.
That gave Wyoming the ball with 21 seconds left, and Noah Reynolds made 1 of 2 free throws to give the hosts the lead with just five seconds remaining. A long inbounds pass for CSU was unsuccessful.
The Rams were able to get back in the game by shooting 52% in the second half, outscoring the Cowboys 36-23 and outrebounding them 19-12.
“We finally settled down and we came back,” Medved said. “I had a feeling this game would come down to the wire. It usually does. I’m disappointed. I thought this game was right there for us. The guys regrouped and came out and I thought we played really good defense in the second half.”
It was just that disastrous first half that contributed to another close loss.
Stevens led the Rams with 15 points. Cartier had 13 and Tonje 10. Stevens also had 10 rebounds and seven assists, coming three assists short of becoming the first CSU player to record a triple-double.
While he took pride in breaking the assists record postgame, he clearly would have rather had a victory.
“I am always grateful,” Stevens said. “It is tough to feel all those emotions right now. That was something I set out to do as a freshman. I was super excited to be in position to break the record, but I would much rather have the win right now.”
The Rams won’t be back in action again until next Saturday when they play at Boise State.
