Colorado State University Athletics
Colorado State
North Dakota State
Rams Stave Off Bison Rally, 82-80
12/18/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 18, 2006
The Colorado State men's basketball team withstood a barrage of late-game three-pointers and held onto an 82-80 win Monday night over North Dakota State in Moby Arena.
The Rams, who led 68-58 with 6:24 to play in the game, saw the visiting Bison tie the score at 77-77 with 1:06 to play. Ram point guard Cory Lewis hit a lay-up with 48 seconds to play while the CSU defense stopped the Bison and bumped its lead to 82-77 on free throws by Tyler Smith with 22 seconds left. NDSU's Ben Woodside hit a three with five seconds to go to close the gap to two but CSU was able to inbound the ball and run out the clock and improve to 8-2 on the year.
"I told our team before the game started this was the best basketball team we've played," said head coach Dale Layer. "I haven't changed my mind. They are extremely well-coached and do not make many mistakes."
CSU forward Jason Smith had a game-high 23 points to go with 10 rebounds for his third-consecutive double-double. Center Stuart Creason added a career-best 22 points while Tyler Smith had 13 and Lewis had 12.
NDSU's Ben Woodside had 20 points and six assists to lead the Bison. Brett Winkelman had 18, Andre Smith added 16 and Mike Nelson posted 14 in the loss.
CSU was 26-of-52 (.500) from the floor and outrebounded the Bison 35-30. NDSU was 33-of-64 (.516) from the floor and 9-of-18 from three-point range.
CSU will now travel to face Boise State Friday night.
