Fort Collins – Cory Lewis is coming of age as Colorado State’s floor leader, and Saturday night he showed he can operate at a sizzling pace.
In a rough-and-tumble encounter at Moby Arena, the Rams (7-1) poured it on Pepperdine with a 71-56 victory while the Waves (1-6) shot only 29.2 percent for the game. CSU’s defense was a big factor as the Rams tied a team record for blocked shots with 12.
But through the up-and-down floor action, Lewis maintained his poise and kept CSU’s momentum going. When he had to, the 6-foot junior guard did his job scoring as well. He was perfect from the floor on four shots, including 3-for-3 from three-point range.
It was Lewis’ last 3-pointer with 5:31 remaining that put the Rams up 62-46 and had them in command the rest of the way.
“In games like this, you really have to think fast,” Lewis said. “That’s when practice comes into play. It’s repetition; repetition makes it perfect. If I don’t get the team together and make them execute and play good defense, we’ll struggle.
“The coaches and players are looking for me to be a leader.”
CSU coach Dale Layer credited Lewis as the best player on the floor.
“He just continues to make great decisions down the stretch of games,” Layer said. “He can lull you into thinking he’s not a great shooter. All of a sudden he jumps up and knocks one down.
“He’s a pass-first guy, but if he isn’t guarded when the ball is kicked out, he’ll knock one down.”
Layer credited his guards in general with good movement of the ball.
“At times our motion and patience was better, but we still have a ways to go,” Layer said. “We got stagnant a couple of times when we dribbled the ball too much.”
Layer said his big defenders – Jason Smith, Stuart Creason and Michael Harrison – played a big role in the victory.
“When you do a good job around the basket, it forces teams to jump shoot,” Layer said. “That’s what they did, and they never were able to get anything going inside.”
Smith was a workhorse as usual, with 16 points, eight rebounds and five of the 12 blocks. He fouled out with 2:23 to go.
Pepperdine coach Paul Westphal said his team has had trouble putting the ball in the basket all season.
“Our defense has been good enough to keep us in games if we shoot the ball reasonably well,” Westphal said. “Colorado State exploited it very well. I don’t care about the pace we play, but we can’t establish any kind of inside game at all.
“Most of our big guys are either hurt or limping right now. That’s a fact we’re dealing with right now. It’s hard for us to establish any kind of balanced offense.”
The Waves hit only 19-of-65 shots from the floor, including 3-for-19 from three-point range.
PEPPERDINE (1-6)
Forehan-Kelly 4-8 2-4 12, Horning 1-8 1-2 3, Henry 1-8 2-7 4, Gerrity 6-16 4-5 17, Griffin 2-6 6-6 10, Barlow 1-3 0-0 2, Lea 1-6 0-1 2, Jarbo 0-0 0-0 0, Grubb 0-5 0-0 0, Galick 3-5 0-0 6. Totals 19-65 15-25 56.
COLORADO STATE (7-1)
Smith 6-15 4-4 16, Harrison 3-6 0-0 6, Lewis 4-4 5-6 16, M. Morris 1-6 0-0 2, Gilling 3-5 0-0 9, S. Morris 3-10 2-2 10, Harris 1-2 0-0 2, Patterson 2-3 0-0 4, Brown 0-1 0-0 0, Creason 1-4 4-6 6. Totals 24-56 15-18 71.
Halftime – Colorado State 41-28. 3-point goals – Pepperdine 3-19 (Forehan-Kelly 2-4, Gerrity 1-4, Lea 0-2, Grubb 0-2, Barlow 0-2, Griffin 0-2, Horning 0-3), Colorado State 8-18 (Lewis 3-3, Gilling 3-4, S. Morris 2-6, Patterson 0-1, Brown 0-1, M. Morris 0-3). Fouled out – Galick, Gerrity, Smith. Rebounds – Pepperdine 44 (Forehan-Kelly 8), Colorado State 41 (Smith 8). Assists – Pepperdine 7 (Barlow, Gerrity 2), Colorado State 15 (Smith 4). Total fouls – Pepperdine 20, Colorado State 21. A – 3,843.
Irv Moss can be reached at 303-820-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com.
