56 seconds of perfection and the momentum that followed earned No. 7 Colorado State a berth in the quarterfinals.
Jase Butler went nuclear in the middle of the second half to help the Rams clinch a 67-63 win over No. 10 Fresno State in the first round of the Credit Union 1 Mountain West Men’s Basketball Championship. But that was only to build on a perfect minute from the Rams that helped steal a lead they hadn’t had since the very beginning.
Down six with 13 minutes to go, Rams forward Rashaan Mbemba hit a pair of free throws, then Jevin Muniz got a steal on the ensuing Bulldogs possession. He drove down and neatly dished to Josh Pascarelli for an easy layup. Jojo McIver stole the ball the next time down and hit Muniz on the wing, who drained a deep 3 to take the first Colorado State lead since 2-0.
“I think in March you have to have those moments and make those plays that change a game,” Rams coach Ali Farokhmanesh said. “That was the turning point of the whole game when we were down eight and went on that little run to make it 46-45.”
Then it was Butler time.
Having hit a pair of 3s before that 7-0 run, he hit four more by the game’s end to keep a close-trailing Fresno State an arm’s length away. His six total 3s were a career high for the sophomore guard. To go with another career-high in rebounds (9), Butler’s 20 points were his second-most in a single game this season. He became the first player to ever record at least six 3s and nine rebounds in a Mountain West tournament game.
“Honestly, I got a lot of my threes off kickouts from offensive rebounds from my teammates,” Butler said. “We do a lot of drills in practice just trying to respace and get open, and my teammates found me. Credit to them. I just had the confidence to make the open shot.”
The high-flying Carey Booth added 18 points, six rebounds and a block.
Fresno State got out early and kept in it late thanks to monster performances from Jake Heidbreder and Gasper Kočevar. The latter, a freshman forward, scored a career-high 14 points, all of which came in the first half. To finish the half, he scored 10 straight Bulldog points.
Heidbreder finished with a pesky 26 with most of his production coming to start and to finish the game.
“He was getting behind our ball screen coverage. Our guards were not doing a good job of physically getting into the ball,” Farokhmanesh said. “I thought we lost our hand activity. (Heidbreder) made some nice passes, but it’s easy to make a nice pass when you got a cone guarding you for a little bit.
I thought we adjusted with just our ball pressure and the boxer mentality of just constant activity. We were way better at that in the second half.”
CSU will match up with No. 2 San Diego State on Thursday evening for a spot in the MW semifinal. The two split their two matchups this season, both winning at home.
