FORT COLLINS — Colorado State freshman forward Greg Smith had seen enough Sunday. The Rams’ 12-point first-half advantage was wiped out in a 20-5 run by Northern Arizona early in the second half.
Northern Arizona also came from behind to beat Air Force on Saturday, but the Rams refused to let the Lumberjacks (4-7) make it two in a row against Mountain West Conference teams.
Smith’s slam midway through the second half woke up Moby Arena and the Rams (8-3), who went on to a 64-56 victory.
“Pierce (Horning) and I were talking on the bench that it’s dead in here and we have to get it going,” said Smith, who pulled down a career-best 10 rebounds to go with his 10 points.
“Every team is going to make a run,” CSU leading scorer Travis Franklin (22 points) said of Northern Arizona’s hot second-half start. “We lost our aggression. That’s the difference between last year and this year. We stayed with it.”
Sophomore guard Jesse Carr played for the first time this season. He had a chronic hip injury and still has until the start of MWC play to decide whether to take a medical redshirt.
” ‘Nothing easy,’ that’s our team motto,” Rams coach Tim Miles said.
The Rams, who had a 28-9 advantage in free throws made, turn their attention to Tuesday’s trip to UCLA (3-7).
“I know they are not having a great season, but they are like NAU on steroids,” Miles said.
Natalie Meisler: 303-954-1295 or nmeisler@denverpost.com
