Colorado State takes a seven-year record of “Senior Night” perfection into Saturday’s Moby Arena finale, but not much else against an Air Force team playing for much higher stakes.
The Rams (15-13, 4-11 Mountain West) haven’t dropped a home regular-season finale since 1998, when they lost to Wyoming.
Air Force (23-5, 11-4) has more riding on the game, with five consecutive victories and a chance to receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
San Diego State clinched the conference title Wednesday, but the Falcons still can finish second with a victory and a BYU home loss to New Mexico.
If the Falcons and Cougars tie, the tiebreaker for the Nos. 2 and 3 seeds in next week’s MWC Tournament gets complicated. The teams split the season series, so the tie will be broken according to records against MWC teams in descending order. If UNLV hangs on to fourth place, Air Force wins the tiebreaker, having swept UNLV. If New Mexico pulls into a tie for fourth, the tiebreaker is how the teams did against the No. 6 team, either Wyoming or Utah. Air Force wins the tiebreaker if Utah finishes sixth. BYU takes it if Wyoming finishes sixth.
The difference is big for Air Force fans. The No. 2 seed opens against the No. 7 seed in the 7 p.m. game next Thursday in the MWC Tournament at the Pepsi Center. The No. 3 seed plays the 10 p.m. game against the No. 6 seed.
CSU needs both a win Saturday and a Wyoming victory at Utah on Saturday night to overtake the Utes for the No. 7 seed.
Otherwise, CSU will play last-place TCU in a play-in game at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. The winner advances to play San Diego State at noon Thursday.
As for senior night, reserves Micheal Morris and Andrew Patterson will be honored before the game. Morris, a four- year part-time starter, has seen his playing time at small forward dwindle while Freddy Robinson’s play improved. Patterson has been a valuable reserve at guard for two years.
Natalie Meisler can be reached at 303-820-1295 or nmeisler@denverpost.com.
