The Colorado State men’s basketball team won its fourth game in a row Wednesday night, holding off UNLV 91-86 at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas.
With the win, the Rams improved to 16-10 overall and 6-8 in the Mountain West Conference. It was their fourth straight win over the Rebels and completed the season sweep, after CSU won the first meeting between the teams 70-62 on Jan. 9 at Moby Arena.
CSU jumped out to an 11-2 lead to start the game, but the Rebels used a 9-0 run midway through the first half to go ahead 17-13.
The game remained a one- or two-possession battle until CSU went on a 21-8 run over a six-minute span late in the half to take a 47-39 lead at the break.
In the second half, the Rams extended their lead to 15 points with 7:09 remaining in the game after a layup by Jevin Muniz pushed gave CSU a 78-63 advantage.
UNLV didn’t go away and got within one possession in the final minute of the game, but Jase Butler went 4-for-4 from the free throw line to seal the victory for the Rams.
Muniz led three Rams in double figures with a CSU career-high 20 points. Brandon Rechsteiner added 18 and Rashaan Mbemba had 13. CSU shot 59% from the floor to UNLV’s 52%.
Each team had 29 rebounds. Mbemba led the Rams with five. CSU only had seven turnovers, the team’s second-lowest total of the season.
CSU will be back in action Saturday when the Rams host San Diego State at 4 p.m. at Moby Arena.
