Dominance at its finest.
Colorado State cruised into Fresno State the losers of four straight road games, needing a win away from Moby Arena in the worst way.
The Rams were focused on the task at hand, jumping out to a 16-8 lead on a 9-0 run with Wes Eikmeier making outside shots and the small forwards making layups.
But it was when Colton Iverson – who had been doubled for most of the first half – dunked the ball and broke the basket on Fresno State's backup basket that he made the school look a bit silly.
The dunk was made with a foul, and it was part of a 14-5 run that pushed CSU's lead to 28-17 with under four minutes to go until half. And the Rams didn’t stop there, they pushed the lead to 38-20 at halftime.
Fresno State wouldn't just quit though, they came out with a 10-2 run to start the second half and cut Colorado State's lead to 10 points three minutes into the period.
But, it all got interesting when Allen Huddleston hit a three and a two, then Marvelle Harris made a layup to bring the game to within five points at 44-39 with 13 minutes to go.
They pulled to within five with 10 minutes to go, but that was as close as the Bulldogs would get. The Rams played decent defense and answered every time Fresno scored. With one minute to go, Daniel Bejarano's 30-foot three-pointer put CSU up 10 and they ended up winning the game 74-63.
Five players scored in double digits for the Rams; Dorian Green (17), Wes Eikmeier (12), Pierce Hornung (12), Colton Iverson (11) and Greg Smith (11), while the Rams out-rebounded Fresno State 40-21.
After losing four straight games on the road – albeit to good teams in CU, UIC, San Diego State and New Mexico – the Rams finally won another game away from home.
Colorado State is now 16-4, 3-2 MWC on the season and sits in third in the Mountain West, just ahead of UNLV with the head-to-head tiebreaker.
Next up for the Rams is a home game Wednesday against Boise State (14-5, 2-3) on Wednesday with a 7 p.m. MT tip off time at Moby Arena.
Rich Kurtzman is a freelance journalist. You can follow Rich on twitter or facebook for all your CSU Rams news and opinion.
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