The No. 8 seed Colorado State Rams defeated the No. 9 seed Missouri Tigers and advanced to the third round of the NCAA tournament in the Midwest Region Thursday night, 84-72.
The Rams grabbed an early lead and never looked back. Colorado State depended on shooting well and cleaning up the boards. The Rams out rebounded the Tigers 36-18.
At the 17:01 mark in the first half, the Rams hit back-to-back 3-point shots in the middle of an 8-0 run that put them up 15-5.
Although Missouri slowly cut the lead to four points to begin the second half, Colorado State pushed out to a 17 point lead, its largest lead of the game, following a 15-2 run.
Dorian Green led the Rams with 26 points. Jon Octeus contributed 12 points and six boards. Greg Smith scored 12 points, and Wes Eikmeier added 11 points. The Rams shot 49 percent from the field and made seven of 14 3-point shots. Colorado State also attempted 33 free throws compared to Missouri’s 19 free throw attempts.
Phil Pressey led the Tigers with 20 points and seven assists. Alex Oriakhi added 16 points, Jabari Brown had 14 points, and Earnest Ross scored 11 points.
The win is Colorado State’s first win in the NCAA tournament since the Rams defeated Florida in the first round of the 1989 tournament.
Colorado State will face No. 1 seed Louisville on Saturday. The time is still to be determined. Louisville demolished No. 16 seed North Carolina A&T Thursday, 79-48.
For more information, visit www.NCAA.com
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