Fort Collins – The Colorado State Rams got a bittersweet taste of what might have been Thursday night.
If only they had played all season as they did against Brigham Young in their last home game of the regular season, they might have been a contender in the Mountain West Conference.
For 35 minutes, the Rams (8-18, 2-13) were every bit as good as the 18th-ranked Cougars (23-3, 13-2). But in those last five minutes they couldn’t sustain that level of play, succumbing to the Cougars’ superior strength inside in a 69-67 loss that extended CSU’s losing streak to six games with one game left, Saturday at Air Force.
With the win and Utah’s loss to TCU, the Cougars extended their perfect road record to 13-0 and claimed the MWC championship outright.
The Rams almost made them wait for one last game, getting off to a hot start and leading by as many as 13 points late in the first half before the Cougars caught up, 58-58, with 6:43 to go. A little less than five minutes later, the Rams trailed by seven, but got within two on two 3-pointers by Sara Hunter, the second with 26 seconds left. But on their last possession, Hunter was triple-teamed at the top of the arc and couldn’t get off a shot.
“They were going to triple-team me if I had the ball,” CSU coach Jen Warden said, adding, “I think our biggest opponent was fatigue.”
With Hunter (27 points) and senior point guard Vanessa Espinoza (16) pushing the ball up the floor, the Cougars struggled to keep pace but finally wore down the Rams with their inside muscle, featuring former Doherty High School star Ambrosia Anderson (22 points, 12 rebounds).
“That was the difference in the game,” said BYU coach coach Jeff Judkins, celebrating his first regular-season title and his 100th career victory. “We just tried to keep scoring.”
Joseph Sanchez can be reached at 303-820-5458 or jsanchez@denverpost.com.
