The Cowboys men’s basketball team battled back from 16 points down to take a 76-75 lead with 17 seconds left, but Colorado State guard Prentiss Nixon hit a three of his own with five seconds left to lead the Rams to a 78-76 victory on Feb. 28 in Fort Collins.
The Pokes held CSU scoreless for over four minutes in the midst of an 11-0 run which was started by guard Jason McManamen’s 194th career three pointer, which broke Brandon Ewing’s all-time UW record. The Cowboys hit 12 three-pointers in the game, their seventh straight game with double-digit triples.
“I’m tremendously proud of our group and the fight they showed, particularly on senior night at CSU for two terrific players here in their program,” head coach Allen Edwards said. “With the emotion and shot-making that Colorado State began the game, for us to withstand that storm was impressive. Then when they went up 10 in the second half, our guys kept fighting and gave us a chance to win. I was excited by that, but at the same time you have to give Prentiss (Nixon) credit for making a big shot.”
Both teams shot well from the field, with the Cowboys going 28-54 (51.9 percent) and the Rams going 30-58 (51.7 percent). The Pokes shot 12-30 (40 percent) from three, while CSU shot 7-21 (33.3 percent).
Guard Justin James led the Cowboys in scoring with 24 points, with 18 coming in the second half. James hit a big three to give the Cowboys the lead with 17 seconds left. Forward Hayden Dalton pitched in 17 points and 10 rebounds for his tenth double-double of the season. Dalton’s five threes was a career high. Forward Alan Herndon also had 17 points for his 22nd game in double figures this year.
The Rams started the game with a 14-2 lead only four minutes in, going 5-7 from the field. Two threes from Dalton and one from Herndon got the Cowboys back into the game two minutes later.
Colorado State built a 29-13 lead halfway through the first half, shooting 79 percent from the field through 10 minutes. The Cowboys fought back to only trail by seven, 48-41 at halftime.
The Cowboys took their first lead of the game, 67-66, with 5:19 left in the game. The teams went back and forth, with James hitting the clutch three to give the Pokes the lead with 17 seconds left. Nixon followed with his own three with five seconds left to give the Rams the victory. Coach Edwards explained the last few seconds of the game following the game in the press conference.
“We took a timeout between the free throws by J.D. (Paige),” Edwards said. “What I told them is we wanted to take advantage of them switching, and let J.J. play one-on-one. In the huddle, I told him to drive it, bit he hit a long three. I told him he had to shoot before the time ran out in case we didn’t score and needed time to foul right away. But we made the shot and where up two. From there we were in our switching man-to-man defense, and I thought we did a good job. I just thought Nixon made a very tough shot.”
CSU is currently tied with Nevada with four losses in conference, battling for the no.1 seed in the Mountain West tournament.
The Pokes will close out the regular season by hosting San Jose State in the Arena-Auditorium on March 4 at 2 p.m. It will be Senior Night for the Cowboys and will be honoring Jason McManamen and Morris Marshall.
