FORT WORTH, Texas — Andy Ogide scored 20 points and grabbed eight rebounds and Greg Smith added a career-high 19 points and 10 rebounds Wednesday night, helping Colorado State hand coach Tim Miles his 50th win in his four-year tenure with a 69-55 victory over Texas Christian.
It was the Rams’ fourth consecutive road win and their first at Daniel Meyer Coliseum since the 2006-07 season, when the Horned Frogs last swept the season series.
CSU, which improved to 18-7 overall and 8-3 in the Mountain West Conference, started slowly. The Rams turned the ball over 12 times while shooting just 1-for-9 behind the arc in the first half.
But TCU (10-17, 1-11 MWC), which has not won since beating Wyoming last month, looked equally dreadful and the Rams were able to pull down 24 rebounds in the first half versus just 11 for the Horned Frogs, accounting for CSU’s 26-23 lead at halftime.
“I was disappointed with our decision-making (in the first half). Our effort was good but our execution was poor,” Miles said.
Smith led all scorers at the break with eight points and opened the Rams’ second half by draining a 25-footer from the top of the key.
Center Nikola Cerina threw down two big dunks for the Horned Frogs to start the second half. But other than a lone free throw, TCU was held scoreless during the next four minutes, part of a stellar defensive effort in the second half for Miles’ big men and a 16-5 run for CSU that made it 42-28 with 14:30 remaining.
“The strength of our team is our inside guys — our paint presence,” Miles said. “I don’t care who you are, we are going in there whether you are good or not so good (in the paint).”
The Horned Frogs cut CSU’s lead to seven points with five minutes remaining. But three consecutive free throws and a clutch block from Ogide, his only one of the game, ended the threat.
“In the first half, they came out really aggressive and doubled the post and caught us a little off guard,” Ogide said. “In the second half, we were really focusing on attacking.”
Colorado State remained in third place in the MWC. The Rams are inside the top 40 in the RPI rankings.
How they fare at home against UNLV on Saturday and at BYU on Feb. 23, coupled with how many teams the NCAA selection committee takes from the MWC, could determine whether the Rams play in the NCAA Tournament. Barring an MWC Tournament title, of course.
“If the season ended today, I think we are in the (NCAA) tournament,” Miles said. “But the season doesn’t end for over a month and so we’ve got more work to do — more winning to do.”
FG FT Reb
CSU Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTS
Franklin 25 4-4 2-9 1-3 1 1 10
Ogide 30 5-9 10-11 1-8 0 3 20
GSmith 31 4-10 10-12 1-10 0 2 19
Nigon 28 2-4 0-0 0-3 5 3 6
Green 33 3-8 0-0 0-1 3 2 7
Eikmeier 9 0-2 0-0 0-0 1 1 0
Hornung 21 0-2 1-3 1-13 1 4 1
Wiltz 1 0-0 4-4 0-1 0 0 4
Carr 8 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
McFarland 9 0-2 0-0 0-2 1 0 0
Bell 5 1-3 0-0 0-0 0 1 2
Totals 200 19-44 27-39 8-46 12 18 69
Percentages: FG .432, FT .692. 3-point goals: 4-17, .235 (Nigon 2-4, G. Smith 1-2, Green 1-5, McFarland 0-2, Eikmeier 0-2, Ogide 0-2). Team rebounds: 5. Blocked shots: 6 (G. Smith 3, Hornung 2, Ogide). Turnovers: 19 (Franklin 5, Green 5, Nigon 3, Eikmeier 2, Ogide 2, Wiltz, Carr). Steals: 3 (Nigon 2, Hornung). Technical fouls: None.
FG FT Reb
TCU Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTS
Fields 23 2-2 0-0 0-3 0 4 5
Cerina 35 6-12 0-1 1-7 0 5 12
Green 34 3-13 1-2 0-4 3 4 10
Thorns 40 4-16 2-4 0-2 8 1 11
Hill 24 0-4 3-4 0-1 3 3 3
Ray 17 0-1 2-4 2-2 0 4 2
Cadot 24 5-8 2-4 2-6 0 4 12
Kone 3 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 200 20-57 10-19 5-28 14 25 55
Percentages: FG .351, FT .526. 3-point goals: 5-15, .333 (Green 3-6, Fields 1-1, Thorns 1-5, Cadot 0-1, Hill 0-2). Team rebounds: 3. Blocked Shots: 3 (Cadot 2, Green). Turnovers: 12 (Thorns 5, Cadot 2, Ray 2, Hill, Cerina, Green). Steals: 13 (Cerina 5, Thorns 4, Cadot, Hill, Ray, Green). Technical fouls: None.
Colorado State 26 43 — 69
Texas Christian 23 32 — 55
A — 4,088. Officials —Bob Staffen, Mike Littlewood, Bobby McRoy.
