FORT COLLINS — With senior Jevin Muniz on one side of him and sophomore Jase Butler on the other, first-year Colorado State head coach Ali Farokhmanesh made it clear following the Rams’ season-ending loss to Saint Joseph’s in the first round of the NIT on Wednesday, that he didn’t want to speak about the defeat.
Instead, he chose to focus on the season the Rams had, one in which the team went 21-13 in the midst of a roller coaster of highs and lows.
While the scoreboard at Moby Arena showed the Rams’ last time on the court together this season ended with a 69-64 defeat, it didn’t take away from what the team accomplished during the season.
“It’s hard to reflect on everything right now,” Farokhmanesh said. “I just think it was a fun group to coach. I think that’s the biggest takeaway I have from this season. When you’re in a rut like that and you’re 3-8, it’s easy to go the opposite direction. For all of them to just come back together more and kind of buy in more to the team.
“I think it just shows you’ve got to have patience with guys, and you’ve got to continue to get in the gym with them and stay with them. If you continue that fight and you keep believing in people, usually things turn. And that was kind of the story of the season too, in a lot of ways.”
CSU got off to a hot start to the season, winning nine of its 11 nonconference games. Once Mountain West Conference play started, the Rams struggled to a 3-8 record through the first 11 games.
They dealt with injuries as well. Rashaan Mbemba missed much of the Rams’ nonconference schedule and Kyle Jorgensen missed multiple weeks after he was injured during the team’s conference opener against Boise State.
Then, late in the season, Josh Pascarelli missed time. He was able to return for the Rams’ Mountain West tournament quarterfinal loss to San Diego State but did not play in the NIT game Wednesday night.
That adversity made the team stronger and had it believing it could carry its late regular-season momentum into the postseason.
“I thought the way these guys have fought all season and the way they they’ve played all season, I think they’ve sacrificed a lot,” Farokhmanesh said. “There’s so many good things that came out of the season. It’s hard to always see that after you lose because we are competitors. That’s what we said to them before tonight is that that’s one of the number one traits as a group is they love to compete. So, I wouldn’t want to go to war with anybody else.”
Wednesday night, Saint Joseph’s led by as many as 11 points in the first half, but the Rams whittled the Hawks’ lead to four with 1:44 remaining before halftime. Saint Joseph’s took a 33-28 lead into the break.
The Rams trailed for most of the second half until they were able to tie the game at 59 with 1:24 remaining after a free throw by Mbemba. However, CSU could never grab the lead.
CSU got within 66-64 with 15 seconds remaining and had a chance to tie or win the game after a long inbounds pass by the Hawks sailed out of bounds. But Mbemba’s layup with 10 seconds left didn’t fall, and the Rams had to foul, allowing Saint Joseph’s to hold on for the victory.
Muniz, the team’s lone senior, led the Rams with 14 points in his final game at Moby Arena. Butler had 11 and Carey Booth 10.
Farokhmanesh said after the game the biggest thing he is looking forward to going into next season is continuity.
“I’m pumped for them going forward and what’s it’s going to look like going into next year,” Farokhmanesh said. “We have a lot of guys, if we come back, I think we could be a problem going forward in our first year in the Pac-12.”
