The Colorado State Rams are keeping their dancing shoes on for at least one more game.

Sophomore guard Kyan Evans scored a career-high 23 points to lead No. 12 seed CSU past No. 5 Memphis, 78-70, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle.

The Rams (26-9) are in the second round of the tournament for the first time in 12 years after winning their 11th game in a row. They will face the winner between No. 4 Maryland and No. 13 Grand Canyon on Sunday.

“Just a phenomenal effort all the way around,” CSU head coach Niko Medved said. “Just when I don’t think this group can give us more, they just find another gear and guys step up … just a tremendous performance and, man, survive and advance.”

CSU trailed by five at halftime, 36-31, and the Tigers got the first basket of the second half to go ahead by seven, but the Rams answered with a 9-3 run to get within 41-40 with 17:15 remaining.

The Rams then used a 14-7 run to take their first lead since the first half and extended it to 54-48 with 12:44 left. CSU never trailed again.

One of Evans’ program tournament-record six 3-pointers gave CSU its first double-digit lead at 64-54 with 8:38 remaining, and the Rams took their largest lead of the game at 73-61 after a pair of free throws by Nique Clifford with 2:29 remaining. Memphis never got closer than eight points after that.

“Whatever Kyan was feeling it tonight, I just want to feel that one time,” Medved said. “He’s one of those guys, he’s an unbelievable competitor. He’s a live-it hoops guy. He learned a lot last year playing behind another great point guard. Watching his development this year has been special.

“I thought he really controlled the game tonight; really brought us a swagger and he just really had a special game. He’s been one of our leaders and he’s playing at a high level right now.”

In addition to Evans’ 23 points, Clifford and Jalen Lake each had 14 while Jaylen Crocker-Johnson had 12. CSU shot 42% from the field in the contest.

Despite being outrebounded 41-34, the Rams forced the Tigers to turn the ball over 16 times.

In the first half, the Rams took an early 15-9 lead on an Evans 3-pointer at the 14:12 mark, but the Tigers made a run and tied the game at 15 with 12:27 left in the first half.

From there, the teams traded the lead for a while until a jumper by Colby Rogers with 4:19 left before halftime gave Memphis a 29-28 lead it wouldn’t relinquish for the remainder of the first half.

The Tigers closed the first 20 minutes on a 12-3 run to take a five-point lead into the break.

Then in the second half, CSU outscored Memphis, 47-34.

“We felt like they were playing harder than us in the first half,” Evans said. “So, we wanted to come out in the second half and change that. I’m not really thinking about myself too much, but just this team, how far we came and just to get a tournament win is just crazy for us.”

Although the Rams won a First Four game against Virginia last year, the win over Memphis was their first in the round of 64 since they defeated Missouri, 84-72, in 2013.