By: Mike Brohard
FRISCO, Texas – No doubt Colorado State would have liked to have gotten off to a better start on Thursday night.No complaints about the finish however.
The backcourt of Isaiah Stevens and Kendle Moore scored 22 of their combined 34 points in the second half, and David Roddy helped with the resurgence in the paint as the Rams rallied for a 65-61 victory over North Carolina State in the quarterfinals at the Comerica Center.
The Rams will face the winner of Memphis-Boise State in the 10 a.m. game Saturday in the semifinal round. The third-place game will be played at 11 a.m. Sunday, the championship game at 1 p.m.
Colorado State struggled offensively the first 20 minutes, to say the least. It shot just 27.6 percent from the field, numbers which took a 20,000-leagues submarine dive thanks to a 1-of-15 performance behind the arc. There was frustration, to be sure, and coach Niko Medved felt a few guys were a bit mopey.
Then he reminded them of the scoreboard, which had the Rams trailing just 28-25 at the break.
"What I tried to tell our guys at halftime was, 'listen guys, look at where we are,'" Medved said after his team picked up win No. 20 on the season. "We were 1-of-15 from 3 and I just thought – I don't want to say our energy was bad – but I thought we were a little bit of hanging our heads, woe is me, are you kidding me? I said, 'we're right here. We're right where we want to be.'"
Not one player was doing a whole lot of damage, but as the second half started to unfold, Colorado State's backcourt duo started to make headway by driving the lane, and Stevens added a couple of 3s for good measure, one of which capped a 7-0 run to put the Rams in front.
That shot started a string of four successive baskets by the sophomore guard, and the final one put the Rams in front 44-41, and they never trailed again.
"They were terrific, just their energy," Medved said. "Especially early in that second half. I thought Isaiah Stevens really calmed us down, and we got to some easier actions that we were able to attack with. I thought he calmed us down, and then obviously Moore's energy and David Roddy made some unbelievable plays there down the stretch.
"Our guards were terrific. Played with great energy, they were attacking, not just settling and making good decisions when they got into the lane. That's who they are. That's what they do, and now we've been in more and more of these kind of games, and our guys just show a lot of poise."
What their play helped establish was the paint in Colorado State's favor, a piece of territory the Wolfpack proclaimed as theirs in the first half as D.J. Funderburk came out hot and scored 11 by halftime, with Manny Bates contributing six.
Funderburk also had three fouls in the opening half, and the Rams pressed the issue by being more aggressive on their trips inside.
The Rams had just 12 points in the paint in the first, but won the battle by the end of the game with 40 overall. Medved knew his guards had a lot to do with that, and so did Roddy, who also proved to be a beneficiary of their play.
All three of them finished in double figures, with Roddy producing his 12th double-double of the year with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Moore matched the scoring total, while Stevens continued to enjoy his return to Texas with a game-best 18, adding in four assists.
"It was great. It was kind of new for Kendle to be making crazy layups on big guys, so, that was good stuff to see," Roddy said. "I knew he had it, but it depends on the game. I'm super proud of those two guys for making the right decisions and getting guys the ball in the right spot."
As good as the guards were, Roddy made the shot of the night down the stretch, hitting a turnaround fadeaway jumper in the paint to push Colorado State's lead to 63-59 with 1:21 remaining. Funderburk had a putback dunk to close the gap – his only points of the second half.
A rare miss on a dive by Stevens gave the Wolfpack another chance with less than 30 seconds, but Jericole Hellems missed a go-ahead 3-point attempt the Rams defended well, and when Roddy collected the rebound, CSU still had to inbound the ball three more times before NC State had collected enough fouls to send them to the line.
When Moore made both ends of a 1-and-1 with 6 seconds remaining, the game was decided.
To reach 20 wins in a shortened season is an accomplishment, and both games in the tournament have come down to the wire, testing the team's mettle. But win they have, and now they are two victories shy of capping the campaign with a trophy.
They have reached a Final Four.
"It's awesome. It's everything that we've worked for," Roddy said. "We just had to get over the disappointment of not being in the NCAA Tournament, but we're still playing basketball in late March. What more can you ask of us?
"I'm just super proud of this team and just excited to continue our season and play other great teams around the country."
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