FORT COLLINS, Colo.—Little was said about Colorado State’s 19-game Mountain West Conference regular-season losing streak before it ended Wednesday night.
“It wasn’t mentioned once all week,” said Colorado State guard Adam Nigon. “The talk never was about losing, but was all about buckling down and playing tough defense.”
“What sense did it make?” Colorado State coach Tim Miles said. “I was done talking about it, and I was ready to talk about the start of a two-game winning streak.”
The Rams complied.
Andy Ogide had 18 points and six rebounds as Colorado State defeated UNLV 71-69 and ended its losing skid.
“Nigon made a huge contribution,” Ogide said. “He makes back cuts, makes deflections, gets steals, does all the little things, and that’s why we call him the X Factor.”
Nigon and Willis Gardner had 11 points each for Colorado State (6-11 overall, 1-2 Mountain West Conference), which hadn’t won a Mountain West Conference regular season game since beating Wyoming 89-83 in overtime on Feb. 24, 2006. The win also ended an 11-game losing streak to UNLV and an overall three-game winless streak.
Joe Darger led UNLV (13-4, 1-2) with 20 points. Wink Adams added 14 points for the Rebels, losers of two straight.
Nigon made his presence felt early, coming up with four steals and six points as Colorado State built a 24-12 lead with 11:07 left in the first half. The Rams forced seven turnovers and six fastbreak points in that stretch.
“Our passing was at a point I had never seen before,” UNLV coach Lon Kruger said. “We were throwing them layups.”
The Rebels caught fire and went on an 11-0 run capped by Darger’s 3-pointer with 7:14 left to close the gap to 24-23. Ogide made a layup to send Colorado State into halftime with a 32-28 lead.
Darris Santee’s hook gave UNLV its first lead of the game, 34-32, and Oscar Bellfield gave the Rebels their last lead, 38-37, with 15:50 remaining on a basket off a steal.
“We had the lead, but we were really never quite over the top,” Kruger said. “We never had any breathing room, and they took the lead back and continued to hold it.”
The Rams took the lead for good, 39-38, seconds later on a Harvey Perry basket, and a basket from short range by Ogide put them up 54-45 with 10:24 remaining. But UNLV got close again when Tre’Von Willis hit a 3-pointer with 7:30 left, to make it 61-57.
Two free throws by Ogide with 1:40 left made it a 70-67 game, but Adams’ two free throws with 45 seconds left cut the lead to 70-69. The Colorado State defense then made a stand.
Nigon outhustled several Rebels for a rebound after Adams missed a wild shot. The Rebels quickly fouled Nigon, who made 1-of-2 free throws with 15.7 seconds left.
Willis missed two shots in the last five seconds.
“Big win, huge win,” said Ogide. “It’s just the thing this program needed right now.”
