Colorado State’s run at the Mountain West Conference tournament ended in the wee hours of Saturday morning, but the Rams’ season isn’t over quite yet.

Despite a 74-61 loss to New Mexico in the semifinals of the conference tourney, CSU’s strong season resume should have it firmly in the field of 68 when the NCAA reveals its March Madness bracket Sunday.

But before the Rams learn their tournament fate, they lost to the Lobos for the second time this season Friday night at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. CSU was looking to advance to the championship game for the first time since 2017.

No. 6 seed New Mexico advanced to face No. 5 San Diego State for the tournament title.

Friday night, New Mexico raced out to an 11-0 lead as No. 7 CSU missed its first six shots from the field. The Rams clawed back, eventually tying the game at 23 on a layup by Joel Scott with 7:22 left in the first half.

After the teams traded baskets, the Lobos closed the opening period with an 8-0 run to take a 33-25 lead into halftime.

“I thought the run at the end of the first half was critical,” CSU head coach Niko Medved said. “They kind of went into the locker room with momentum. They made a lot of plays. They made shots. They made plays. They were active defensively.”

After halftime, New Mexico took its largest lead of the game at 58-42 with 9:06 left. But again, the Rams chipped away at the Lobos’ advantage. A layup by Scott cut the New Mexico lead to 61-54 with 4:48 remaining. That would be as close as CSU would get.

From there, the Lobos outscored the Rams 13-7 over the final four and a half minutes of the game.

Scott led the Rams with 20 points. It was the seventh-straight game the former Division II player of the year has scored in double figures.

“I think it’s just been physicality, trying to set the tone in the paint,” Scott said. “My teammates are looking for me in there, and I think we’re just playing off of each other. I think when we set the tone in the paint, me, Pat (Cartier), and even our guards, it helps us out in the long run.”

Isaiah Stevens added 13 points for the Rams, all but two coming in the second half.

Now the Rams (24-10) wait until Sunday afternoon to find out when and where they will play their next game. CSU has certainly built a resume good enough to be a a top-10 seed with wins over Creighton, Boston College, Colorado and Washington, as well as at least one victory over every team in the Mountain West either during conference play or in the tournament.

“Obviously another win would have helped us, so I don’t know.” Medved said after the loss to New Mexico. “Part of the fun of it is not knowing and having that on Selection Sunday. You have no idea what your seed is going to be, where you are going to go, who you are going to play, and that’s some of the beauty of it.”