Takeaways: Colorado State men's basketball steals huge road win at Saint Mary's

MORAGA, Calif. — The shouts echoed down the hallway outside the visitor locker room.

“LET’S GO RAMS!!” followed by loud cheers.

A road win is extra sweet, this one especially so given all the circumstances around it for the Colorado State men’s basketball team.

The Rams grabbed a gritty 62-60 win over Saint Mary’s in a weird-and-wacky finish but sweet result for CSU.

“I don’t know that I’ve ever been prouder of a group of guys,” CSU coach Niko Medved said. “I think this is as good of a win as we’ve had here.”

It almost certainly is CSU’s best nonconference win in the five-season Medved era. The neutral-site victories over Mississippi State and especially Creighton last year are close, but this was a true road win and came for a Rams team fighting plenty of adversity.

More on that adversity later, but first a look at how this back-and-forth game ended.

Final sequence

The teams were neck-and-neck from tip till finish. The largest lead each team held was five. It was 30-30 at halftime and they went into the final 2 minutes tied at 59.

Isaiah Stevens (more on him later, as well) hit two free throws to make it 61-59 CSU with 1:50 to go. CSU had a chance for a dagger 3-pointer but missed, then Saint Mary’s hit one of two free throws.

Now we’re into the final 30 seconds of a one-point game.

First, CSU's Josiah Strong forced a Saint Mary’s player to travel.

CSU got the in-bounds pass in, but John Tonje was trapped and lost the ball with 15 seconds left. Then Isaiah Rivera forced a tough shot and miss before James Moors grabbed the rebound and was fouled with 3.8 seconds to play.

The problem? He’s one of CSU’s worst free throw shooters and it was only a one-and-one. He missed the front end but Saint Mary’s Mitchell Saxen inexplicably fired a pass to no one, right out of bounds with a second left.

CSU was able to draw up an in-bounds play to Stevens. He hit the first free throw and intentionally missed the second to delay the rebounding, gathering and shooting of a full-court effort, and the final heave missed.

There was little scoring, but a lot happened. The CSU bench exploded in celebration at the horn.

Isaiah Stevens is that guy

This was just the fifth game back for Stevens following a broken foot and he’s been good, but this was his best performance this season and one of his best as a Ram.

“I thought Isaiah Stevens was just magnificent tonight,” Medved said. “I’m trying to think of all the adjectives I can use and I can’t come up with enough good ones.”

The senior guard continually got to dangerous spots, slithering through the defense and beating his main guard (Logan Johnson) who Medved calls one of the top defenders in the country.

Stevens showed off his full range of midrange moves and was unstoppable. He hit nine of 19 shots and scored a game-high 23 points to go with five assists.

There was no doubt he was the best player on the floor.

Shorthanded Rams step up

CSU has been shorthanded every day since the summer. Someone has always been out injured or sick.

Sunday was no different. Strong returned after missing the past few games battling the aftereffects of mono, but both Tavi Jackson (foot/ankle) and Jalen Lake (upper body) had to sit out with injuries. Medved said he hopes both will be short-term injuries.

It still meant more shuffling of lineups, and nearly everyone stepped up.

Baylor Hebb only scored two points but was dogged defensively and had three steals.

“We don’t get that win without him,” Stevens said.

Tonje scored 17 points. Joe Palmer only played 4 minutes but drilled a big 3-pointer. Kyle Evans was forced into more important minutes with Patrick Cartier and James Moors both starting to combat the size of Saint Mary’s and played a solid game.

Cartier and Moors both defended well as CSU was significantly outsized inside.

It was a gritty, high-effort defensive performance.

And scoring? Saint Mary’s has the No. 10 scoring defense in the nation at 57.3 per game. CSU surpassed that by five. The Gaels are 36^th in field goal percentage defense at 39% and CSU clicked in at a cool 56%.

It was an impressive all-around effort in a tough spot.

Path of season changed in Moraga

The Rams had some real-talk conversations over the last few weeks.

CSU (8-4) had lost back-to-back Division I games before this in rather embarrassing fashion, an 88-83 home loss to Northern Colorado and an ugly 93-65 blowout defeat at Colorado.

“I think it was one of those things where we just had to be honest with ourselves,” Stevens said. “We had to look ourselves in the mirror over this last week. We kept it real and the coaches were on us and I felt like we responded well.”

This win can change the scope of the season. Saint Mary’s (9-4) entered Sunday No. 11 in the NCAA’s NET rankings and No. 16 in KenPom. CSU was No. 98 (NET) and No. 99 (KenPom). KenPom had this as an 87% chance of victory for Saint Mary’s and the Rams were 11.5-point underdogs.

CSU moved up 19 spots in NET (to 79) and 12 in KenPom (to 87) with the win.

It’s now a top-of-the-resume worthy win. And with the quality of the Mountain West, there are plenty more resume chances ahead.

The next question is if CSU can do it consistently?

The Rams get another chance quickly. CSU heads to Phoenix to face USC at 9 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 21, and the Trojans are fresh off a win over top-25 Auburn.

Follow sports reporter Kevin Lytle on Twitter and Instagram @Kevin_Lytle.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Colorado State men's basketball team beats Saint Mary's