Fort Collins – Pregame shoot- arounds usually don’t accomplish much more than to get basketball players loose.
The warm-ups ultimately meant everything Monday night to Colorado State in the Rams’ 83-82 victory over Colorado at Moby Arena.
CSU sophomore guard Sean Morris hit just about every practice shot he attempted. And he never cooled off.
Morris tied a school record with nine 3-pointers, in 16 tries, and finished with a career-best 34 points. CSU (2-0) snapped a five-game losing streak in the series.
“I told my teammates in shoot- around that I was feeling it today, and if they got me the ball I’d get us started,” Morris said afterward.
Morris’ last 3-pointer, with 48 seconds remaining, pulled the Rams even at 79-79. His brother, senior guard Micheal Morris, converted two free throws for what proved to be the winning points with 10.1 seconds left. That put CSU up 83-80, but there was plenty of time for the Buffaloes to send the game into overtime.
However, senior forward Chris Copeland passed up a 3-pointer and inexplicably passed the ball underneath to Martane Freeman. Freeman, who came off the bench to lead CU with a career-best 17 points, got an easy dunk. But the Buffs still trailed by a point and called for timeout with 2.3 seconds left.
CSU committed a turnover on the inbounds pass, and the Buffs got the ball under their basket with 1.5 seconds left – plenty of time for a game-winning shot. But Colorado (1-1) didn’t give itself a last chance. A sloppy inbounds pass by Marcus Hall was fumbled away by senior forward Andy Osborn as the horn sounded.
Copeland said he couldn’t explain his mistake.
“It was a bonehead play on my part,” he said. “I just saw Martane open. I should have shot it.”
CSU coach Dale Layer, getting his first victory over Colorado, couldn’t have been more drained afterward if he had held his breath for the final minutes. He may have done just that. CU led 74-66 with 7:36 remaining after a 15-foot jumper by Copeland.
“I knew Sean Morris had a game like that in him. I just didn’t know it would come in a game like this,” Layer said. “We have a very young team. There were times when our youth was exposed. Sean covered up more of that.”
Colorado’s best outside shooter, guard Richard Roby, never got into a flow. Credit Micheal Morris and Freddy Robinson with pestering the 6-foot-6 sophomore, but Roby played only 22 minutes, little more than half the game.
CU coach Ricardo Patton said he kept Roby on the bench for long stretches because CU needed its best defensive players in the game to try to cool off Sean Morris.
Not helping matters for the visitors, CU’s best perimeter defender, senior Jayson Obazuaye, fouled out with 4:15 remaining and the Buffs holding a precarious 74-71 lead. Sean Morris swished two more 3-pointers with Obazuaye watching from the bench.
COLORADO (1-1)
Osborn 4-7 0-0 11, Copeland 7-12 1-4 16, McGee 0-1 0-0 0, Obazuaye 3-9 1-2 7, Hall 5-8 1-1 12, Freeman 6-8 5-6 17, King-Stockton 2-6 0-0 4, Roby 3-6 3-6 10, Coleman 2-4 0-0 5. Totals 32-61 11-19 82.
COLORADO STATE (2-0)
Robinson 0-2 0-0 0, M. Morris 1-3 3-4 5, S. Morris 10-18 5-6 34, Smith 5-8 6-9 16, Clark 0-0 2-2 2, Gilling 2-3 0-0 6, Harrison 4-9 2-5 10, Lewis 4-7 0-0 10. Totals 26-50 18-26 83.
Halftime – CU 43-40. 3-point goals – CU 7-18 (Osborn 3-6, Coleman 1-1, Hall 1-2, Copeland 1-3, Roby 1-3, McGee 0-1, Obazuaye 0-1, Freeman 0-1), CSU 13-25 (S. Morris 9-16, Gilling 2-3, Lewis 2-4, M. Morris 0-2). Fouled out – Obazuaye. Rebounds – CU 32 (King-Stockton 7), Colorado St. 28 (Smith 6). Assists – CU 21 (Hall 7), CSU. 20 (M. Morris 7). Total fouls – CU 25, CSU 17. A – 5,868.
Staff writer Tom Kensler can be reached at 303-820-5456 or tkensler@denverpost.com.
