Colorado State University Athletics
Colorado State
San Diego State
Rams Suffer 64-52 Setback to Top-Seeded Aztecs
3/9/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 9, 2006
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DENVER - San Diego State opened up a six-point game with an 11-1 run late in the second half to lift the top-seeded Aztecs to a 64-52 victory over No. 8 seed Colorado State in Mountain West Conference Men's Basketball Tournament quarterfinal action Thursday afternoon in Denver.
SDSU (22-8) pieced together a nine-point halftime lead, 36-27, after notching 13 points off 10 Ram turnovers in the first half. The Aztecs bumped their lead to 50-37 with 12:25 to play before Michael Harrison and Freddy Robinson combined to pull the Rams within six, 50-44, with a 7-0 run at the 10:31 mark in the second frame.
San Diego State then responded with an 11-1 run of its own in the next five minutes sparked by seven Aztec offensive rebounds and took a 61-45 advantage with less than five minutes left in the game.
CSU (16-15) narrowed the lead to 10 with a Harrison three with under a minute to play but San Diego State ended the tournament for the Rams with a 64-52 loss.
"San Diego State is an extremely talented team", said CSU head coach Dale Layer following the game. "I thought our guys played really hard. I thought the defensive effort was about as good as we could possibly play."
Harrison led CSU with 24 points, eight rebounds and a career-high six blocks while Jason Smith came in with 13 points and six rebounds for the Rams.
San Diego State was led by 17 points and 19 rebounds by Marcus Slaughter while Mountain West MVP Brandon Heath managed 16 points on the day. Mohamed Abukar rounded out an Aztec trio in double figures with 13 in the game.
CSU hit 20-of-45 (.444) shots from the field while holding SDSU to 23-of-68 (.338) from the floor. San Diego State outrebounded the Rams 42 to 34 including 24 offensive rebounds resulting in 18 Aztec second-chance points.
