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BYU Edges Rams, 86-84 CSU sees pair of shots roll our in waning moments.
Jan. 28, 2006 Colorado State University had two shots roll out in the game's final 14 seconds as the Rams fell to visiting Brigham Young, 86-84 Saturday night in Moby Arena. Trailing 85-81, CSU forward Jason Smith hit a three pointer with 55 seconds remaining in the game to draw the Rams within a point. Rams' reserve guard Andrew Patterson came up with a steal 20 seconds later and the Rams called timeout to set up an offensive play. Smith drove the lane, but his six-foot jumper rolled out. After BYU's Austin Ainge made one of two free throws with seven seconds remaining to give the Cougars an 86-84 lead, CSU's Stephan Gilling drove the lane but his shot missed, sending the Rams to a fourth consecutive conference loss. "We had two good looks at the end, and it didn't go down," said Rams' coach Dale Layer following the game. "It was a disheartening game, but hopefully good things will come from it." It seemed early in the game as though good things would come the Rams' way. Colorado State used an 11-0 run that included six points by guard Cory Lewis that broke a 3-3 tie and pushed the Rams to their biggest lead of the night, 14-3, four miknutes into the game. Trailing by nine, 22-13 with 11 minutes, 32 seconds to play in the first half, BYU used a 15-4 run to take their first lead of the game, 28-26, on Trent Plaisted's dunk. The teams traded two more leads and there was one more tie before Jimmy Balderson's two free throws gave the Cougars a 43-41 halftime lead. Balderson, who scored a game-most 24 points off the bench for BYU, helped the Cougars widen the lead to 12 midway through the second half.
But Lewis keyed an 8-1 run that cut a nine-point BYU lead to a saingle point with 3:36 to play. After a pair of free throws by Austin Ainge pushed the lead to 77-75, Stephan Gilling's three-pointer with 2:51 remaining gave CSU it's final lead of the game. Brock Reichner's three-pointer 14 seconds after Gilling's shot put BYU ahead to stay, 80-79, and CSU could come no closer than one point the rest of the way. Smith, a 7-foot sophomore from Kersey, Colo., ked the Rams with 23 points and nine rebounds, one of four players to score in double figures. Lewis finished with 16 and a game-most eight assists. Reserve center Stuart Creason had 14 points, and Gilling added 11. Colorado State drops to 12-8 overall, 1-6 in MWC play with the loss, while BYU is 12-6, 4-3. Colorado State returns to action Wednesday night against Air Force in Colorado Springs at 7 p.m. The game can be heard on the Colorado State Sports Network, including KCOL (600 AM) in Fort Collins, and KNUS (710 AM) in Denver. CSU's next home game is Feb. 4 against San Diego State at 7 p.m. Tickets are available at all King Sooper and City Market grocery store locations through the state of Colorado, or by calling 1-800-491-RAMS or on line at CSURAMS.com. |
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