Colorado State University Athletics
Colorado State
Fresno State
Men's basketball recap: Rams shoot past Bulldogs, 87-74
12/4/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 4, 2010
Final Stats | Photo Gallery 
By Zach Balside
Athletic Media Relations
FORT COLLINS, Colo. - CSU had its best shooting performance of the season, hitting 59 percent of its shots en route to an 87-74 win over the Fresno State Bulldogs at Moby Arena on Saturday night.
With the victory, the Rams improved to 4-1, their best start since CSU went 6-0 in 2005-06. CSU will look to continue its impressive start when it travels to Boulder to face in-state rival Colorado on Wednesday.
CSU held a 39-34 lead heading into halftime, but Fresno State (1-5) quickly tied the game at 39 at the beginning of the second half. But the Rams responded well to the Bulldogs' quick burst, and went on a 20-9 run capped by a steal and layup by senior guard Adam Nigon.
"We just continually made shots," Head Coach Tim Miles said of CSU's scoring surge in the second half. "We got some of those transition threes and those are back-breakers. Those are really hard and take a toll on a team. We had a nice rhythm and a really nice flow."
The win helped CSU avenge a 73-50 loss to the Bulldogs last year in Fresno.
"What they did last year down there, that was a terrible game," forward Andy Ogide, who tallied his ninth career double-double, said. "So we wanted to beat them because of that, but it was also good to send them a message."
Ogide finished the game with 16 points on 8-for-12 shooting and 11 rebounds.
"Andy can really be a difference-maker for us," Miles said. "You just look at how when you put pretty good perimeter guys around him, some slashing guys around him, and then you give it to Andy, who if you are going to go one-on-one, you are going to take the ball out of bounds."
It was raining three-pointers in Moby Arena as both teams shot well from beyond the arc. Fresno State shot 47 percent from three-point land, after coming into the game making just 21 percent of its attempts. The Bulldogs were led in the category by sophomore guard Garrett Johnson, who shot a perfect 5-for-5 from three-point range. The Rams answered with a three-point barrage of their own, connecting on 53 percent of their attempts.
"I like our three-point shooting," Miles said. "We don't take a whole bunch of them and I don't think that we are over-committed on them and I think we shoot a pretty good percentage."
Senior forward Andre McFarland shot 3-for-4 from three-point range, and Dorian Green and Jesse Carr each made two.
McFarland finished with 13 points, as did fellow senior forward Travis Franklin. Green also scored in double-digits, tallying 10 points.
Sophomore forward Greg Smith added nine points and some strong defense off the bench.
"Greg is a really productive player, he really is," Miles said. "Greg has the length and athleticism that we can play him at the three and the four. If he can stay in front of guys, his length really bothers guys. You can do a lot of different things with him, like we put him on their point guard and we switched him onto all different types of players. We need his versatility."
The Bulldogs were led in scoring by Johnson, who finished with 17, and freshman guard Kevin Olekaibe, who scored 15.
The Rams will aim to beat the Colorado Buffaloes for the second straight year on Wednesday. Franklin scored 22 points and Green added 21 more in CSU's 77-62 victory in Moby Arena last season. The game will be televised on FSN Rocky Mountain at 8 p.m. MT, and broadcast on the CSU Radio Network. The women open the doubleheader with a 5:30 p.m. tip.
