Colorado State University Athletics
Colorado State
Utah
Road Warriors!
2/15/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 15, 2006
Salt Lake City, Utah - Sean Morris buried a three-pointer late in regulation and two more to open overtime to lead Colorado State to a 69-61 win over Utah Wednesday night in Salt Lake City. The win snaps a 20-game conference road losing streak for the Rams that dates back to a March 6, 2003 win over the Utes in Salt Lake.
The game remained tight throughout with neither team leading by more than four until Utah turned a 45-41 Ram lead into a 51-45 advantage for the home team with 2:16 to go in the second half. CSU then responded with a Jason Smith layup and a steal from Cory Lewis that resulted in a Stephan Gilling layin to make it a two-point game with 1:47 to play.
Utah Freshman Luke Nevill made one of two free throws on the other end and Stephan Gilling knocked down a three for CSU to tie the score, 52-52 with just under a minute left on the clock.
Nevill then got a bucket and completed the three-point play with 0:29 left before Sean Morris sank a long three from just beyond the right elbow to knot the score a 55 apiece.
CSU's defense then prevented the Utes from getting off a shot in the final :15 to send the game to an extra period.
In overtime, Morris picked up where he left off in regulation with a three on the team's first possession and another on the next to put the Rams up 61-55 with 3:49 to play.
The teams then traded baskets before Freddy Robinson hit one of two free throws to bump the Ram lead to six with 2:15 left in the overtime period. Nevill then drew the fifth foul of the game on Smith and hit two free throws with 1:55 to go but 64-60 would be as close as the Utes would get as Lewis and Robinson combined to hit 5-of-7 free throws down the stretch to seal the 69-61 win.
"You've got to give Utah a great deal of credit," commented CSU head coach Dale Layer following the game. "It took as good a game as we've played all year to beat them."
Morris led Ram scorers with 17 point on 6-of-8 shooting including a 5-for-6 night from long range.
"It was good to have him break out and give us a good game," said Layer on Morris' performance Wednesday.
Smith followed with 15 points and a team-high eight rebounds while Cory Lewis led the squad with five assists and Robinson had four steals and six rebounds on the night.
Nevill and Johnnie Bryant each had 18 for the Utes with Jonas Langvad going for 15 leading only four Utes that scored on the night.
CSU shot 24-of-47 (.511) for the game while holding Utah to 19-of-49 (.388), the lowest shooting percentage by a Ram opponent since holding Arkansas Tech to 35.9 percent on Dec. 30.
CSU (13-11, 2-9 MWC) hosts UNLV Saturday at 1 p.m. in Moby Arena. The game will be televised by ESPN+Plus. Tickets for the game may be purchased at any King Soopers of City Market in the state of Colorado or by calling 1-800-491-RAMS or by going to CSURams.com.
