Colorado State University Athletics
Colorado State
Air Force
Carr, Dunn lead Rams past Falcons
1/20/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 20, 2009
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By John Manuszak
Athletic Media Relations
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Freshman Jesse Carr scored a career-high 17 points and walk-on Arin Dunn added 10 in his first significant action to lead Colorado State to a 67-56 win over Air Force on Tuesday night at Moby Arena.
The win marked the Rams’ first win over the Falcons since March 11, 2004 – a stretch of eight straight games and also gave the Rams back-to-back home wins in conference play for the first time since Feb. 13 and Feb. 24, 2007. With the victory, the Rams moved to 7-12 overall and 2-3 in the Mountain West. CSU’s seven wins equal the win total from its entire 2007-08 season (7-25).
“I was so proud of those guys tonight,” said Head Coach Tim Miles. “Our guys stepped up and made some huge, important plays for us. This is big for us.”
Colorado State was playing without the services of leading scorer Marcus Walker and key reserve Harvey Perry, but several Rams stepped up in their place. Carr hit 5-8 three-pointers on his way to his 17 points while Dunn, playing in just his second career game, went 3-4 from the field, including 2-3 from three-point range on his way to a career-high 10 points and two steals.
“I just try to work hard at practice and be ready when the coach calls my name,” said Dunn. “I just want to be able to contribute to this team and I was happy I could do that tonight.”
In addition to Carr and Dunn, senior guard Willis Gardner dished out a season-high six assists and added 11 points while forward Travis Franklin posted 12 points on 4-5 shooting and seven rebounds. Franklin’s steal, behind-the-back dribble and dunk in the closing minutes sealed the Rams win.
“It was a great play,” said Miles. “It was a great steal and Travis is the type of guy that loves the limelight, so when he gets the ball at the end of the game you can’t stop him. When he’s playing with that type of energy, I don’t want to stop him.”
The Rams bench, which outscored the Falcons 24-3, sparked CSU in the second half. Franklin and Dunn each had three-point plays and Dunn added a key three-pointer to give the Rams some separation. CSU used a 9-3 run, capped off by a Gardner three-pointer, to take a 60-47 lead with 4:09 remaining and the Falcons would never get any closer than eight points the rest of the way.
Air Force was led by Matt Holland who tallied a game-high 25 points on 7-11 from three-point range. Evan Washington added 12 for the Falcons, who dropped to 9-9 overall and 0-5 in the MWC.
In the first half, Air Forced used an 11-2 run to take a 15-8 lead at the 9:47 mark. A three-point play by Franklin and a deep three-pointer by Carr brought the Rams back to within 15-14. The two teams would stay close for most of the first period until the final few seconds when both teams used 4-0 runs, including four points by Air Force in the final 4.2 seconds of the first half.
The Rams will next be in action on Saturday when they travel to Laramie to take on Wyoming (12-5, 1-2 MWC). Tipoff is set for 4 p.m. at Arena-Auditorium.
