Jan. 6, 2007
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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) – Jason Smith had a double-double with 28 points and 11 rebounds and Colorado State put on a torrid first half shooting display in an 88-79 win over New Mexico on Saturday afternoon.
CSU (11-3, 1-1 MWC) beat New Mexico (11-6, 0-2) in The Pit for only the fourth time in 39 years. The Rams did it with the 7-footer Smith’s dominating play and soft touch jumpers inside and 11 3-pointers – seven of them in the first half.
New Mexico, whose loss to Texas Tech earlier in the week made Red Raiders coach Bob Knight the all-time leader in career coaching wins, played without leading scorer J.R. Giddens. Giddens, who practiced on Friday, was in street clothes and wearing a boot on his injured left ankle, which he hurt in the Lobos’ win over Wichita State two weeks ago.
Tony Danridge led New Mexico with 17 points. Reserve Kellen Walter scored a career-high 13 – 10 of them over a span of 65 seconds late in the game when the Lobos used a 17-3 run to trim an 81-60 CSU lead to 84-77 with 55 seconds left.
But even with Giddens in the lineup, the Lobos would have had a tough time beating the Rams, who hit 19 of 26 shots in the first half, including 7 of 11 3s.
CSU scored 13 straight points early in the first half to take a 19-8 lead. Guard Cory Lewis, who scored 10 straight points in the midst of that run, got the Rams rolling with a 3-pointer. He added a jumper in the lane and another 3-pointer and Smith hit a 10-footer and Tyler Smith connected on a 3.
With just under eight minutes gone in the first half, the Rams had more turnovers – four – than missed shot, having hit 11 of their first 14.
Smith, who matched his career scoring high – he also had 28 against the Lobos in Albuquerque a year ago – hit 11 of 15 shots, many of them lay-ups over the shorter New Mexico front line.
Lewis, who scored 15 points in the first half, finished with 17 and Tim Denson scored 15. Stephen Gilling added 12 on four 3-pointers.
New Mexico, which trailed 46-30 at halftime, scored the first seven points of the second half on a 3-pointer by Darren Prentice and back-to-back field goals by Danridge. Smith halted the rally with a 3-point play and New Mexico would get no closer than the seven-point margin in the final minute.