Las Vegas – The most productive player Wednesday night in the Colorado State-UNLV basketball game calls Colorado home. Louis Amundson, a 6-foot-9 senior forward, just wasn’t wearing a CSU uniform.
The former Monarch High School star dominated with 21 points and 12 rebounds in the Rebels’ 68-57 victory at the Thomas & Mack Center.
With sophomore center Jason Smith again in foul trouble and junior point guard Cory Lewis ejected because he threw a punch at a UNLV player, the Rams were short-handed during a sloppy second half and lost for the 18th consecutive time in a Mountain West Conference road game.
Lewis, who will miss Saturday’s game at TCU because of the ejection, declined to talk to the media.
“Any time I play Colorado State, it’s a fun battle,” said Amundson, who had scratches under an eye. “I went to camp up there (in high school), and I like to play well against them. I knew they would be real physical.”
It was the lowest scoring effort of the season for the Rams (12-5, 1-3 MWC).
Amundson led the Rebels (9-7, 3-1) to a 38-29 halftime lead and opened the second half with a dunk. CSU waited nearly three minutes for its first basket of the second half. By then UNLV was in front 43-29 and CSU never came closer than within eight points.
The Rams offered resistance of the wrong kind. Lewis, who had to leave the first half with a sore back after a collision left him face-planted on the court, was ejected soon after he returned in the second half. During the transition to the UNLV end of the court, Lewis shoved an elbow into Rebels forward Dustin Villepigue, leaving him sprawled on the court.
“He swung at me, and I had no intention of swinging back,” Villepigue said.
CSU coach Dale Layer said he didn’t see the play that led to Lewis’ ejection that well.
“We don’t have enough maturity to deal with winning on the road,” Layer said. “None of our starters had a good night tonight.”
It was a typical road start for the Rams as Smith took a seat just 2:03 into the game with his second foul. That allowed Amundson to take over with 11 points in the first seven minutes of the game. Smith returned to spark a 13-3 run as the Rams found themselves with a rare first-half road lead at 21-19.
COLORADO STATE (12-5, 1-3 MWC)
Smith 3-9 6-7 12, Harrison 2-3 1-4 5, Lewis 2-7 0-0 4, M. Morris 1-7 2-2 4, Gilling 0-3 0-0 0, Harris 1-1 0-0 2, Robinson 0-1 0-0 0, Patterson 4-7 2-2 12, Brown 0-0 0-0 0, Creason 5-10 3-3 13, S. Morris 1-8 2-4 5. Totals 19-56 16-22 57.
UNLV (9-7, 3-1)
Amundson 9-17 3-4 21, Terry 1-6 3-3 6, Villepigue 2-5 0-0 4, Adams 7-12 3-5 20, Petrimoulx 1-5 2-4 4, Umeh 3-6 0-0 8, White 1-3 0-0 2, Morgan 0-2 0-0 0, Berkey 0-0 0-0 0, Darger 0-0 0-0 0, Essengue 1-2 1-2 3. Totals 25-58 12-18 68.
Halftime – UNLV 38-29. 3-point goals – Colorado State 3-17 (Patterson 2-5, S. Morris 1-7, M. Morris 0-2, Gilling 0-3); UNLV 6-21 (Adams 3-6, Umeh 2-5, Terry 1-5, Morgan 0-2, Petrimoulx 0-3). Fouled out – None. Rebounds – Colorado State 42 (Harrison 8, M. Morris 8); UNLV 33 (Amundson 12). Assists – Colorado State 10 (Harris 2, M. Morris 2, S. Morris 2, Smith 2); UNLV 16 (Petrimoulx 7). Total fouls – Colorado State 16, UNLV 18. A – N/A.
Natalie Meisler can be reached at 303 820-1295 or nmeisler@denverpost.com.
