Butler puts up 18 as CSU defeats Wyoming 79-68

FORT COLLINS >> Colorado State men’s basketball overcame a 10-point second-half deficit to defeat Wyoming 79-68 on Saturday afternoon at Moby Arena in Fort Collins.

CSU avenged a 68-57 loss to Wyoming in Laramie on Jan. 31 by using a 10-0 run late in the second half to overtake the Cowboys and cruise down the final stretch for its third win in a row.

With the win, the Rams improved to 15-10 overall and 6-8 in the Mountain West Conference. It was the last Mountain West Conference matchup between the teams in their long-running Border War rivalry, as the Rams will play in the Pac-12 beginning next season.

“The Border War is awesome,” CSU head coach Ali Farokhmanesh said. “Awesome environment. Awesome atmosphere. Moby was rocking tonight and I thought our guys fed off that. I thought that sparked our run.”

CSU trailed 40-37 at halftime but scored the first four points of the second half to go ahead 41-40. However, the Cowboys answered with a 13-2 run to go ahead 53-43 with 15:06 left in the game.

Wyoming went ahead by 10 again at 55-45 before CSU made its run. The Rams finally tied the game at 64 after two free throws by Jase Butler with 5:19 left, and then went ahead 66-64 on a layup by Muniz nine seconds later. They never trailed again.

Butler led the Rams with a career-high 18 points. Muniz added 15 and Mbemba 14.

Northern Colorado 77, Portland State 65>> Quinn Denker had 23 points in Northern Colorado’s 77-65 win over Portland State.

Denker also added eight rebounds and seven assists for the Bears (17-10, 7-7 Big Sky Conference). Egan Shields scored 12 points and added five rebounds. Brock Wisne had 11 points and went 5 of 11 from the field. It was the sixth victory in a row for the Bears.

Fresno State 93, Air Force 63>> Led by 18 points each from Wilson Jacques and DeShawn Gory, Fresno State defeated Air Force 93-63.

Jacques added nine rebounds for the Bulldogs (12-13, 6-8 Mountain West Conference). Gory shot 8 for 16, including 0 for 4 from beyond the arc, and added three steals.

Lucas Hobin finished with 26 points for the Falcons (3-22, 0-14). Air Force also got 13 points from Riley Dering. The loss is the 18th straight for the Falcons.

— Loveland Reporter- Herald, Associated Press