Colorado State University continued its winning streak by defeating Dartmouth College 76-55 at Moby Arena, marking their fourth consecutive victory. With this win, the Rams improved their season record to 8-2, just one game shy of entering the Mountain West Conference schedule.
After a sluggish start, the Rams managed to regroup and deliver a solid performance in the second half. Head coach Ali Farokhmanesh acknowledged that the team struggled early on, likely due to the emotional high from their recent win against Colorado. However, he expressed satisfaction with how the team bounced back after leading by nine points at halftime.
“That”s human nature that after you have an emotional game like that on Saturday night in front of a sold-out arena, it”s hard to get ready for the next one,” Farokhmanesh stated. “I”m glad we got the win, and we won by a good margin, and the guys responded in the second half the way that we wanted to.”
Brandon Rechsteiner was a key contributor for the Rams, leading the scoring with 14 points, all of which came in the first half. Other notable performances included Kyle Jorgensen with 12 points, Jevin Muniz with 11, and both Josh Pascarelli and Jase Butler adding 10 points each. Despite having made 16 of 18 3-pointers in the previous two games, Pascarelli was held back by Dartmouth”s defense, only managing to attempt two 3-pointers in the second half, both of which were successful.
The game began with a closely contested first five minutes until Rechsteiner hit two consecutive 3-pointers, turning an 8-6 deficit into a 12-8 lead for the Rams. Their largest lead of the first half reached 11 points following a jumper from Rechsteiner, putting them ahead 25-14 with just over five minutes remaining in the period.
Dartmouth narrowed the gap in the closing minutes of the first half, reducing the Rams” lead to five points with just over a minute left before halftime. However, CSU responded with a layup from Jorgensen, a steal by Carey Booth, and another layup from Rechsteiner, finishing the half with a 33-24 advantage.
In the early stages of the second half, Dartmouth cut the lead to 35-31, but the Rams quickly countered with a 14-3 run, extending their lead to 49-34 with 10:46 left in the game. CSU eventually reached their largest lead of the contest at 74-50 with just 1:31 remaining.
Defensively, the Rams limited Dartmouth to 40 percent shooting and forced 15 turnovers, although some players felt there was room for improvement on that end. “Jace Butler noted, “I felt like we didn”t defend the way we could. We still won the game, so it was better to learn that way. But the coaches emphasized in practice that you”ve got to defend to be the team you want to be ultimately.”
In terms of rebounding, Colorado State edged Dartmouth 25-23 and held a slight advantage in assists at 13-12. The game saw a low number of free throw attempts, with CSU converting all three of theirs while Dartmouth made four of eight attempts. Overall, the Rams shot an impressive 61.1 percent from the field.
Looking ahead, Colorado State will face Northern New Mexico in their final nonconference matchup of the season on Sunday at 1 p.m. before launching into Mountain West Conference play on December 20 against Utah State.
