FORT COLLINS — There is something about Wyoming that brings out the record-breaker in Colorado State senior guard Isaiah Stevens.
On Jan. 21 in Laramie, Stevens broke the all-time CSU men’s basketball career assists record, topping the mark held by current Resurrection Chrisitan head coach Ryan Yoder that stood for almost 30 years.
In the second edition of the Border War on Friday night at Moby Arena, Stevens broke the combined men’s and women’s program record 584 held by Ellen Nystrom.
He also tied the record for assists in a game with 12, a record he already shared with Yoder and Rudy Carey. It was the third time Stevens dished out a dozen assists.
In front of a sold-out Moby Arena crowd, Stevens had an assist to seven different players as the Rams avenged that earlier one-point loss to the Cowboys to salvage a split of the season series with an 84-71 victory.
“It makes it more fun in my opinion when everyone is getting a piece of the pie,” Stevens said. “Everybody’s a little more juiced up that way, a little more dialed in when they see a shot or two go in,” Stevens said. “It doesn’t always work out that way, so we have to be disciplined enough to stay dialed in, even when that’s not the case. When you can get it rolling like that, it is a fun sight to see and be a part of.”
Colorado State led by as many as 16 points in both halves and fended off a Wyoming rally that cut the Rams’ lead to five a few times midway through the second half.
With the win, the Rams improved to 13-16 overall and 5-11 in the Mountain West Conference, having won three of their last five games. Wyoming fell to 8-10 and 3-13.
“Well, that was fun,” CSU head coach Niko Medved said. “We haven’t had as many of those as I would like. I’m so happy for our players. The season has had its ups and downs. It hasn’t gone the way we have wanted. Nobody knows what they have gone through more than them. I give them a lot of credit. They’ve really stuck with it, especially the leaders.
“What could be better, right? Border War, orange out, sell out, and for these guys to experience it and play well was awesome.”
Six and a half minutes into the game, the teams were tied at 12. The Rams answered with their first big run of the game, a 16-4 spurt, to go ahead 28-16 with 7:32 left in the first half.
After Wyoming cut the CSU led to nine, the Rams went on a 7-0 run to take their largest lead of the first half at 35-19 with 4:42 left in the period.
The Cowboys cut the Rams’ lead to eight before a jumper by Stevens gave the Rams a 40-30 lead just before halftime and CSU took that 10-point lead into the break.
James Moors and John Tonje led the Rams with seven points each in the first half. Stevens and Baylor Hebb each had six as CSU shot 61.5% from the field and made 4-of-9 3-pointers in the opening period.
“We just wanted to be aggressive,” Medved said. “I don’t think we were very aggressive at all offensively the first half up in Laramie. We were in the second half, we turned it on. We really needed to come out a lot edgier, an attacking mentality, and I thought we did that. I don’t think we took our foot off the gas on that end the entire game. Maybe took some ones we didn’t want to – maybe a few times too aggressive, but I loved it. We’re better when we’re attacking.”
In the second half, the Cowboys slowly closed the gap. They cut their deficit to five points on several occasions, the last at 63-58 with 7:29 remaining.
A 3-pointer by Tonje with 4:10 to go gave the Rams a 73-58 and they matched their largest lead of the first when a layup by Patrick Cartier gave them a 75-59 lead with 3:50 to go.
Wyoming cut the CSU lead to 10 with 1:48 to go and that would be as close as the Cowboys would get. The Rams led 84-68 with 22 seconds remaining.
Tonje led the Rams with 25 points. Stevens had 15 to go along with his 12 assists for his sixth double-double of the season. James Moors added 16 points.
The Rams ended up shooting 59.2% for the game. They were almost perfect from the free throw line, making 19 of 21.
CSU will play at San Jose State next Tuesday before closing the regular season at home next Friday against New Mexico.
