Rams Match Up Effort to Roll Past Bulldogs

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Take advantage of the situation.

Find the weakness and attack it. Keep doing what you do well at the same time, it's the recipe for a rather good night. One a team can feel really good about.

In the case of Tuesday evening, it was the formula for a blowout as Colorado State attacked Fresno State in what would become a 91-64 Mountain West victory at Moby Arena, the Rams' first at home as they improved to 3-1 in league play (9-6 overall).

"I think we're best when we're aggressive, so I think that's kind of the mindset we want to come into every game with, then just try to attack every team," CSU point guard Kyan Evans said. "I think we're better when we're aggressive."

Both teams entered the night in the lower half of the league in offensive production. The difference was Colorado State stood as the second-best defensive team in the league at this point when it comes to field goal percentage (41.6), Fresno State the worst (47.2).

The Rams not only shot 50 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes, they made all 13 free throws they attempted and hit 6-of-13 from 3, nearly matching their per-game average before the break. Of the 15 buckets they made, 14 came attached with an assist. Two vital streaks crossed paths – the Rams went on a 15-0 run while the Bulldogs had a string of 13 consecutive missed shots – as the hosts produced their highest-scoring half of the season.

The effort defensively has been solid, much in the same way it was last season despite a host of fresh faces. Keshawn Williams said CSU coach Niko Medved asked his team early in the campaign to find themselves, and guarding has become the squad's center.

"Earlier in the season coach talked about our identity, and we didn't really know where our identity was," said Williams, who scored 18 off the bench. "I think we've established it's on the defensive end so far, so I think you could say that's our identity."

Fresno State (4-12, 0-5 MW) shot just 38 percent in the game, with the Rams forcing 17 turnovers in the process. Holding a team to just 26 points takes a cohesive effort, one Medved feels his team is good at producing with room still to improve.

"We have a ways to go still. I think we're really growing that way," Medved said. "In a lot of ways, a lot of guys are kind of stepping up, learning. We're a lot more connected on that end. This is a group were going to have to win playing great defense."

The fun part is adding the offensive production into the mix. After scoring in the 80s the first two games, the Rams had only reached the figure once again, and all of those nights were before conference play began.

Shooting just 30.1 percent from behind the 3-point line hasn't helped, making the nailing of 43.3 percent in the game (13-of-20) feel that much better. It was the first game this season the Rams hit better than 40 percent from range, with five different Rams hitting at least two. Jaylen Crocker-Johnson it four, two late as he led the team with 20 points.

"It's great, especially early. I love seeing some of these guys – Jaylen, Kyan, Keshawn, Bowen (Born) got a couple to go in tonight," Medved said. "That's awesome for our team. Hopefully, we can get everybody kind of shooting it better at the same time, because man, at the end of the day you can do a lot of good things, you just need some shots to go in."

The final 20 minutes didn't alter much from the first. The Rams kept scoring on one end while pestering the Bulldogs on the other. As much as CSU was flowing, the game still had a bit of a pedestrian feel with 43 fouls called in the contest.

Colorado State just walked through it all, finishing with five players in double figures as the Rams raised the bar on team assists with 28 in the contest, led by a career night by Evans in the category with his seven while finishing with 10 points. Williams set a CSU standard for himself with 18 points, while Nique Clifford (14) and Kyle Jorgensen (10) followed suit.

Those assists came off 29 made baskets – the only one not attached with aid produced by a Jalen Lake put-back in the first half.

"It's later in the season, so we're starting to learn each other more. At the beginning of the season, you're still learning each other; it's a process," Williams said. "I think we're at a point where we've learned each other, we know what guys do, we know the plays, we know the spacing, so I think we're getting a lot better offensively."

And they attacked. Both ends. So Medved had no complaints at the end of the night.

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