Dec. 30, 2010

Final Stats

By Danny Mattie
Athletic Media Relations

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – The Colorado State men’s basketball team improved to 10-3 to start the season, and ran its win streak to six games, rolling to a 94-50 victory over Dominican University Thursday afternoon on the second day of play at the Hilltop Challenge at USF’s War Memorial Gymnasium.

With Thursday’s win, the Rams:

• Extended their winning streak to six, longest since the team won nine straight, Nov. 18-Dec. 30, 2006.
• Matched the program’s best start (10-3) in four years, since also opening 10-3 to begin that 2006-07 season.
• Won their fifth straight contest away from Moby Arena, their longest such streak since another five-game stretch Nov. 29, 2006, to Jan. 6, 2007. The team hasn’t won six straight away from home, something it can accomplish with a New Year’s Day win Saturday, since Feb. 11-March 10, 1989, when the Rams reeled off six in a row away from Fort Collins just before a berth in the NCAA tournament. They also had similar five-game streaks during the 1999-2000 and 1990-91 campaigns.
• Scored their most points in a game, 94, under fourth-year Head Coach Tim Miles, and most since Dec. 28, 2005, a 106-80 victory over UC-Colorado Springs at Moby Arena. Thursday also marked the team’s highest point output away from Fort Collins since a 100-84 triumph over BYU at The Pit in Albuquerque, N.M., on March 7, 1996, in the Western Athletic Conference tournament, prior to an appearance in the NIT.
• Recorded their largest margin of victory since another 44-point win, 90-46 over Florida A&M, on Dec. 21, 1999, in another holiday tournament on a neutral court.

All 12 Rams that saw game action Thursday scored in the contest, led by junior forward Will Bell, who posted a career-high with 17 points in 20 minutes off the bench. He was the only Ram to reach double-figures, followed by Adam Nigon and Dorian Green, who each tallied nine points. 

Overall, the Rams outshot the Penguins (0-9), 58.3 percent to 29.1 percent, and held a 40-29 rebounding advantage.

Dominican put up a fight early in the contest and led 11-10 and 13-12 in the first 6 minutes of action. But the Rams heated up from long range, as Carr, Wes Eikmeier and Dorian Green combined to score 15 straight from beyond the arc, and the Rams pushed their lead to double digits, 31-19, with 7:25 left in the first half. 

CSU took a 45-28 lead into halftime and the Rams’ lead ballooned to 30 points early in the second half, as the team stormed out of the locker room on a 16-2 run, putting the game well out of reach with more than 10 minutes left to play.

Two Rams saw their first significant action of the season. Freshman guard Moe Wiltz tallied eight points, three rebounds and two steals in 18 minutes off the bench. Junior guard Kaipo Sabas, playing in his first game as a Ram, knocked down a three-pointer and finished with six points in 7 minutes of action.

Colorado State returns to the court Saturday against the Hampton University Pirates.  Hampton is 10-2 after defeating Dominican, 78-65, on Wednesday afternoon.  The Pirates were to take on host San Francisco Thursday night.