{"id":193004,"date":"2026-02-25T12:46:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T12:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/193004\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T12:46:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T12:46:09","slug":"csu-mens-basketball-grinds-out-comeback-over-fresno-state-extends-to-6-win-streak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/193004\/","title":{"rendered":"CSU men\u2019s basketball grinds out comeback over Fresno State, extends to 6-win streak"},"content":{"rendered":"

Colorado State<\/a> slugged out a close game against Fresno State<\/a> 74-70 Tuesday. Despite trailing most of the game, and at one point by 13, it stayed composed and pulled off the win.<\/p>\n

After a long road trip followed by a big win Saturday over San Diego State<\/a>, the team felt some of the fatigue. Kyle Jorgensen<\/a> described the game as a \u201ctrap game\u201d and said he thought the team came out casual.<\/p>\n

The Rams got off to a slow start in the first half, shooting just 4-of-18 from deep. FSU also got out and capitalized on CSU misses and turnovers, scoring 39 first-half points.<\/p>\n

However, thanks to a late-half run, the Rams clawed back from a substantial deficit to trail by just six points at halftime.<\/p>\n

Coach Ali Farokhmanesh<\/a> said he did not think the shots were bad but could be better.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought we got good shots in the first half, and then I thought the second half we got great shots, and that was the biggest difference,\u201d Farokhmanesh said.<\/p>\n

Slow starts are nothing new for the Rams; this one just lasted a little longer than usual. Once the team got rolling, it looked back in the form it has had recently.<\/p>\n

After poor shooting, the Rams began to attack where they believed they had an advantage.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we honestly knew that we could win in the paint,\u201d Brandon Rechsteiner<\/a> said. \u201cWe were taking what we could get off the ball screen and back throw-ins, and I think that\u2019s when we started seeing our threes fall.\u201d<\/p>\n

With CSU\u2019s cold early shooting, they found themselves down for the first portion of the second half.<\/p>\n

They were kept in the game nearly single-handedly by Rechsteiner. The guard was able to get going and hit three 3-pointers when the team needed it most and kept the score within striking distance, igniting his team.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt gets me going, too, I was a little lackadaisical in the first half when shots aren\u2019t falling; you kind of get into that mode sometimes,\u201d Jorgenson said. \u201cWhen other people are going, I\u2019ll get going as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the improvement, FSU continued battling.<\/p>\n

The Bulldogs continued shooting the ball well, led by first-year forward Deshawn Gory<\/a>, who scored 23 on the night.<\/p>\n

The Bulldogs continued to protect their slight lead, keeping the Rams within striking distance. With four and a half minutes to go, the Rams knotted the score up at 64.<\/p>\n

The Rams then flexed their muscles, and, behind threes from Jorgenson and Rechsteiner, were able to secure the 4-point victory. After not leading for almost all of the game, they controlled the final minutes.<\/p>\n

Although the game was not the prettiest the Rams have played all year, Farokhmanesh said he was still pleased with the win.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor us to find a way to win this game, that was the key,\u201d Farokhmanesh said. \u201cIt didn\u2019t need to be pretty, just needed to find a way. I thought our guys found a way to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the difficult couple of road games in Wyoming<\/a> and UNLV<\/a>, followed by the orange out San Diego State<\/a> game, Tuesday\u2019s was the kind of game Farokhmanesh was expecting. He said that tomorrow, he wants the whole team to take a day off.<\/p>\n

Being in the final stretch of the regular season, Jorgenson has seen the improvements in the team as of late.<\/p>\n

\u201cA month ago, I don\u2019t think we\u2019re winning that game,\u201d Jorgensen said.\u2029\u201dAnd I think that shows our progress.\u201d<\/p>\n

Throughout the grind of the game, the Rams still produced their usual balanced offensive attack, with all five starters in double figures. Rechsteiner led the team in scoring with 16, followed by Jevin Muniz<\/a> with 15.<\/p>\n

Carey Booth added to his recent success as well with 11 points and nine rebounds.<\/p>\n

The Rams had dropped their game earlier this season to the Bulldogs by 10 and now got their revenge. They will put their now six-game winning streak to the test next Saturday, against San Jose State<\/a>. The matchup will be one of three games left before postseason starts, and the hot Rams will look to make a run in the Mountain West Tournament for one final time.<\/p>\n

Interested in more sports content? Sign up for Ram Report\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0for weekly CSU sports updates!<\/p>\n

Reach Caleb Morrow at\u00a0sports@collegian.com<\/a>\u00a0or on social media\u00a0@RMCollegianSpts<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Colorado State slugged out a close game against Fresno State 74-70 Tuesday. Despite trailing most of the game,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":193005,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-193004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193004\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/193005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}