By Robert Weiler
In the battle to stay out of the basement, the BYU men?s basketball team beat the Colorado State Rams 50-49 in front of a crowd of 8,481.
Playing in yet another tight game that would come down to the final seconds, the Rams could not convert on three tip-ins before missing a desperation 3 at the buzzer.
The win snaps the Cougars-two-game losing streak and continued the woes for the Rams, who have lost their last eight games and collected their last win against BYU on Jan 15. BYU had already lost three games in a row three different times this season, including once in conference play.
The Rams came out confident in the second half to tie the game up at 36 at the 12:00 minute mark but couldn?t keep up the momentum to build any type of lead. Both teams traded baskets and neither had a lead of more than three points.
BYU senior Mike Hall had a game-high 16 points in the win, while CSU freshman Stuart Treason had 11 points to lead the Rams. Both teams fumbled through the first half, and outside of a 6-0 run in the final minute to end the half, both teams barely cleared the 20-point mark. The two teams combined for 10 assists and 22 turnovers in the process, and neither was shooting above 40 percent from the field.
The Rams jumped out to a 9-0 lead in the first five minutes of the game before the Cougars could find
their range, using a 7-0 run to get back in the game.
The Rams held on to the lead until the last two minutes of the half, when BYU outscored Colorado State 8-2 to take a 27-21 lead into the locker room.
Colorado State?s size hurt BYU early on, forcing the Cougars to keep Keena Young on the bench to matchup with the Rams, who have three seven-footers on their squad. Matt Nelson and Co. made it tough for BYU to score inside, recording six blocks in the half. And the Cougars couldn?t take the ball outside, making
only three of their 11 attempts from beyond the arc.
Austin Ainge led the way for the Cougars in the opening half with 10 points. Mike Hall returned to form, scoring eight points in the half, five of which came in the closing two minutes. Ainge and Hall also carried the scoring load for BYU when the two teams met earlier this year, as Ainge had a career-high 25 points.
The Rams spread the ball around to seven different scorers, with Matt Williams, Matt Nelson and Stuart Creason each scoring 4 points a piece.
BYU now heads on the road for three games, starting with the New Mexico Lobos on Saturday.
