Colorado State University Athletics
Rams Leave Las Vegas With 86-77 Loss
1/22/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
A 31-point performance by hot-shooting freshman guard Sean Morris was not enough to lift Colorado State over the high-octane offense of UNLV Saturday night in Las Vegas' Thomas & Mack Center. Morris' 31 points included nine three-point field goals tying a Colorado State school record.
The Rams led for the majority of the first half and increased their lead to seven at 30-23 at the 9:03 mark in the opening period. The Runnin' Rebels made turned up their offense to close out the period and took a 48-45 advantage into the halftime break.
CSU tied the score twice more in the second half but UNLV would go on to pull away to lead by as many as nine before capturing the 86-77 victory.
Morris, who made his first career start in the game, garnered his points on 10-of-17 from the floor including 9-of-14 from long range. The frosh also distributed the ball well leading the Rams with five assists on the night.
Following Morris' production were a pair of 10-point efforts from fellow freshman Jason Smith and senior center Matt Nelson. Smith added a team-best eight rebounds and dished out four assists while Nelson hit 5-of-8 shots from the floor.
As a team, Colorado State hit 27-of-60 shots (45 percent) and 10-of-23 shots from long range (43 percent). UNLV was 54 percent from the floor (30-of-56) and hit a blistering 53 percent from three-point land.
The rebound advantage went to the Rebels 38-32.
CSU (9-8, 1-3 MWC) travels to San Diego to take on the Aztecs of San Diego State on Monday night. Tip time is scheduled for 10 p.m. MT in a game that can be seen nationally on ESPN.
