FORT COLLINS — CSU Rams fans, you can exhale now.
David Roddy wasn’t about to let a two-game Rams losing skid become three. Especially once he started feeling it from 3-point land.
Roddy, the Rams’ burly junior forward, nailed the game-winning jumper with nine seconds left, then snatched the rebound off a miss by San Diego State’s Matt Bradley seconds later in a wild back-and-forth finish — preserving CSU’s 58-57 win over San Diego State on Friday night before a sold-out, orange-clad Moby Arena.
“I’m getting too old for this,” Rams coach Niko Medved cracked after the game.
The 6-foot-6, 252-pound Roddy collected a team-high 22 points, 13 of them in the second half, a stanza that the Rams (17-3, 7-3 Mountain West) opened with a 12-5 run to put some distance between themselves and the physical Aztecs (12-6, 4-3).
Roddy’s trey a minute after the halftime break pushed the hosts’ lead to eight, 28-20. His jumper with 17:44 to go in the game nudged CSU’s cushion up to 33-20. Teammate Chandler Jacobs’ layup six minutes later extended that gap to 18 points, 43-25.
It was some measure of payback for a 79-49 defeat to the Aztecs in San Diego back on Jan. 8. But what appeared to be a comfortable victory for CSU — the Rams led by 15 with 7:51 left — got hairy late.
After CSU guard Kendle Moore appeared to suffer an ankle injury with five minutes to go, the Aztecs turned on the press and turned up the heat.
San Diego State converted back-to-back 3-point plays on consecutive possessions with 1:56 to go to cut a 10-point CSU cushion to four. Lamont Butler’s layup with 1:06 left got the visitors to within two, 56-54.
The Aztecs then took a brief 57-56 lead on Butler’s 3-pointer with 14 seconds to go, setting up Roddy’s heroics on the other end after Isaiah Stevens pushed the ball up court instead of taking a timeout. The ball squirted out to the Rams big man near the left elbow.
The Aztecs did the same pushing the ball back the other way after Roddy’s bucket, but Bradley’s leaner clanked off the rim and CSU fans rushed the court in jubilation.
“We made that extra play,” said Medved, whose Rams lost a heartbreaker in overtime at rival Wyoming this past Monday, “that one more play (that) we needed to win the game.”
Alums such as former Rams big man Nico Carvacho, who played professionally in Germany last fall, were on hand to witness the program’s first of back-to-back home sellouts since February 2013. A decibel meter placed near one of the student sections late in the first half registered at a 115.3.
The rowdy locals would leave happy.
The Aztecs, the nation’s No. 2 squad in defensive efficiency, according to KenPom.com (85.4 opponent points per 100 opponent possessions), set the tempo early. Funny enough, Roddy’s first 3-point attempt, which came about two minutes into the contest, air-balled harmlessly into the baseline. He’d heat up in the second half, but at the time, it felt like a portent of things to come.
“They’re tough to score against, they play their game,” Medved said. “They’re not going to allow you to play a pretty, free-flowing game.”
In its early stages, this game was anything but. Just like its matchup in Laramie, CSU got off to a sluggish start offensively. But when the Rams opened the game in a full-court press, the gambit seemed to rattle the deliberate Aztecs at the outset, too.
At the initial 12-minute media timeout, the capacity crowd found itself getting treated to a brick-fest. the two programs had combined for more personal fouls (five) than field-goal makes (four).
It was 5-5 with 11:17 to go until halftime before the hosts strung together a 7-0 run to take a 12-5 lead. Thanks to 10 first-half points from junior guard John Tonje, CSU led 23-18 at the break.
