Colorado State kept its perfect start to the season intact with an 86-74 victory over Boston College on Wednesday at the Hall of Fame Classic in Kansas City.
Five Rams scored in double figures as CSU improved to 5-0 to start the season for the third straight year.
Isaiah Stevens led CSU with 18 points to go along with eight assists. Josiah Strong had 15 points, Joel Scott and Nique Clifford 14 each and Patrick Cartier had 10. Scott led the Rams in rebounds with seven.
CSU advanced to face No. 8 Creighton in the championship game on Thursday.
“Really gritty effort by our guys today,” CSU head coach Niko Medved said. “I thought we showed a lot of toughness from beginning to end.”
The Rams came out hot, hitting over 60% of their shots for much of the first half. They finished the opening 20 minutes shooting 57% and had a 47-38 lead at halftime.
Their largest lead of the first half was 14 points, at 30-16, after a three-point play by Strong with 9 minutes, 47 seconds left before the break, and then again 34-20 after a layup by Clifford with 6:44 to go. Boston College got within six points twice in final two minutes of the half, but Scott put back a missed 3-pointer by Jalen Lake at the buzzer to push the Rams’ lead back to nine.
In the second half, the Rams started slow, allowing the Eagles to pull within four at 65-61 with 9:11 to go, but that would be as close as they would get.
CSU went on an 11-2 run to go ahead by 13 at 76-63 with 4:25 remaining and extended their lead to 17 on a dunk by Scott to make it 86-69 with 1:10 left. That was the Rams’ largest lead of the game.
The Rams ended the game shooting 55.6% from the field. They outrebounded the Eagles 30-24 and forced 16 turnovers.
