Rams earn right to face top seed BYU
Marcus Walker scored 22 points and Durango High School product Andre McFarland 18 to lead Colorado State to a 68-63 win over Wyoming in the Mountain West Conference Tournament play-in game Wednesday at the Thomas & Mack Center.
Walker added five assists and shot 9-for-17 from the field, and McFarland was 4-for-6 from 3-point range.
Ninth-seeded Colorado State (7-24) did not win a regular-season conference game in 16 tries. The victory ended a 17-game losing streak.
The Rams will play top-seeded BYU in the quarterfinals today.
No. 8 Wyoming (12-18) was led by Brandon Ewing’s 29 points, 19 coming in the first-half. Ewing was 13-for-13 from the free-throw line.
Wyoming built its largest lead, 46-39, with 14:33 left. But the Rams went on a 17-4 run and took the lead for good at 51-50 with 9:10 left on a layup by Adam Nigon.
The Cowboys trailed 64-63 when Ewing went for a go-ahead layup with 32 seconds remaining but was stripped by Nigon.
After two free throws from Walker with 28 seconds left, Ewing missed a potential tying 3-pointer from the left arc with 17 seconds left.
Willis Gardner added two free throws to seal the win.