Stevens Returns As Rams Roll Past Loyola Marymount

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FORT COLLINS, Colo. – As he arose from the bench, the crowd stood with him. And roared.

The return of Isaiah Stevens has been anxiously anticipated ever since it was announced right before the start of the season he'd miss some time with a broken bone in his foot. He's more than just the point guard for Colorado State's men's basketball team, he's one of the best floor generals in the nation. He is the Rams' calm and fire at the same time, possessing the ability to rise to the occasion when needed and elevate his team with him.

After five days of testing out his foot in practice – head coach Niko Medved crossing his fingers each night there would be no swelling or return of pain – the senior made his return to the floor Wednesday night at Moby Arena with Loyola Marymount, inserted immediately into the starting lineup, albeit with a minutes limitation.

"Yesterday I was calm. Then when I woke up this morning, jittery," Stevens said of his emotions leading up to this season's debut. "Then it released to the media and the public and my phone is just going crazy for hours, so I definitely started to get nervous there for a second, but just eager to play more so than anything. I just wanted to get back out there and be with the guys."

Back sooner than anybody expected, there was no need to floor the accelerator quite yet.

Tell that to Stevens, who couldn't wait to get back in action. Perfectly scripted, he dropped his first two shots of the game, the second a 3-pointer. By the end of the night, the senior had played 19 minutes, finishing with 13 points on 5-of-11 shooting, adding three rebounds and four assists as the Rams produced an 87-71 victory, moving to 6-2 on the year.

"I knew he was going to shoot the first one. That's just who he is," CSU coach Niko Medved said. "It was cool. Obviously, I'm so proud of him, the way he's handled everything through this has just been extraordinary, and it's just the young man that he is. He just brings a ton of energy to our team that way. He obviously scores, but he creates so much for others, but it's that leadership, that confidence he brings, and I think our guys really feed off that."

His return was definitely something old, but it felt very new with a remixed lineup. Even former teammates had taken on new roles and personalities, but the idea of playing, that was routine for Stevens. That in itself was refreshing.

"Just because when you deal with a foot injury, you never know how you might respond, but shoutout to everyone who's been part of this process," he said, "who worked super hard to get me back, at my pace, too. It just happened to be a little earlier than expected."

A tight game at the half, John Tonje erupted in the second as the Rams quickly pulled away behind hot shooting, building up a 15-point margin 6 minutes after the break and holding steady in the neighborhood the final 14 minutes, building it up to as much as 21.

Tonje hit all six of his shots of the second half, including a trifecta of 3s, to ignite the offensive side of the floor. One bucket came with authority, a breakaway dunk with 1:43 to play, leading all scorers with 23 points. He led the team in rebounding with seven – an area Medved has seen great improvement.

While he was watching from the bench, Stevens marveled at how Tonje had elevated his game, and finally being on the floor with him made it more enjoyable to witness.

"Man, he's improved so much, hasn't he? Just year by year," Stevens said. "He has a new dimension to his game, a new level of confidence to his game and he's not scared to compete with anybody. Over the first seven games sitting there watching him, I was like, how can I make his job easier, because he's already carrying such a big workload for us – and he's going to have to. That's just the way our team is built, and he's earned that right to earn that role on our team. I just want to make his life easier. Watching him have a night like he had tonight is just fun."

Both teams played with pace throughout, but the Rams overcame a sluggish start shooting – they opened 1-of-10 from behind the arc – to finish at 53.2 percent from the floor, 40 percent from deep, making 10-of-25 overall. It helped expand the margin as CSU excelled in the paint against a bigger lineup as five Rams finished in double figures.

Tonje's wingman in the final 20 minutes was Isaiah Rivera, who scored 12 of his 19 in the final half. He missed just once from the field, hitting a pair of triples in the process. Patrick Cartier added 16, and Jalen Lake contributed 13.

After a slow start, Tonje, who has scored in double figures in all but one game, reaching 20 in the past two, said they just stuck to the plan.

"Everyone just encourages each other. If you have a bad shooting day, you're not going to know that from your teammates," Tonje said. "You're going to know that from yourself. Nobody frowns upon you if you miss a couple of shots. We all build each other up, and eventually, they started falling."

The win belonged to the team, but there was no denying the evening belonged to Stevens. His devastation with the injury was shared by his team, who thought of what it meant to him, not the program or their season.

So, when he came out strong, every teammate shared in his joy.

"I couldn't help but smile," Tonje said. "I mean, we both came in here at the same time freshman year, and we wanted to start each other's senior year together, and obviously that didn't happen. To see him back on the floor, he obviously made my job a lot easier. We're just so blessed to have him."

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