RENO, Nev. – The Colorado State men’s basketball team came from behind to earn a hard-fought road win at Nevada, 73-69, on Wednesday night at the Lawlor Events Center, behind a double-double performance from Greg Smith that included a career-high 28 points and 12 rebonds.
The victory moved the Rams to 19-4 overall and 6-2 in league play where they sit alone in second place in the conference standings heading into the team’s idle weekend.
The Rams trailed by as many as 12 points in the first half, despite a strong start by Smith who notched 18 in the opening stanza. However the Rams were without senior forward Pierce Hornung who played just three minutes in the contest, all in the first half, because of an illness.
Three other Rams finished in double-figures scoring in the contest, as Dorian Green and Wes Eikmeier each tallied 11 points, while Colton Iverson tallied his 10th double-double of the season with 10 points and a career-high 16 rebounds.
Eikeier iced the game for the Rams. On what was a tough shooting night for the senior guard, he went 4-of-4 from the free-throw line, both in one-and-one situations, in the game’s final 23 seconds to help the Rams escape with the victory.
Sophomore Daniel Bejarano picked up extra minutes for the Rams in place of Hornung, and tallied eight points and seven rebounds in 26 minutes of action.
Nevada’s Malik Story notched a game-high 31 points in the losing effort, connecting on 7-of-11 attempts from three-point range.
The Rams are off on Saturday before returning to the court for a showdown with conference preseason favorite San Diego State. The Aztecs entered the week ranked No. 25 in the AP Coaches Top-25 poll. Tipoff between the Rams and Aztecs is set for 8 p.m. MT on CBS Sports Network, and the game will be the Rams’ annual “Orange Out” as the players will don the throwback pumpkin Aggies jerseys.