Colorado State men's basketball fights off Nevada to reach Mountain West semifinals

LAS VEGAS — The system for live stats during games has a section to show notable trends during games.

One of the notes it highlights is scoring droughts for a team.

The “team drought” icon was in constant use Thursday night at Thomas & Mack Center.

An offensive masterpiece this was not, but style points are irrelevant in the postseason.

The Colorado State men’s basketball team won a 67-59 rock fight over Nevada in the quarterfinals of the Mountain West tournament.

No. 2-seed CSU (23-9) went through several prolonged scoring droughts but was able to keep No. 7 Nevada (17-16) from ever finding an offensive rhythm either.

It’s the season of survive and advance and the Rams are moving on.

Nique Clifford dominates again

How would CSU star Nique Clifford follow his 36-point explosion in the last game? It was quite the follow.

Clifford was excellent on both ends and led the Rams. He scored 25 points on 8-13 shooting, grabbed 14 rebounds and had four assists.

His fadeaway jumper with 1:55 to go gave CSU it's first double-digit (61-51) lead, just minutes after Nevada had cut the lead to four.

Clifford may have finished second in the Mountain West Player of the Year vote (to New Mexico's Donovan Dent), but he continues to showcase himself as one of the best in the country and a potential first-round pick.

CSU depth hits in key times

Again, it was not an offensive masterpiece (CSU was at 37% at halftime and had several scoreless stretches of 3 minutes or more) but the Rams got enough from enough areas beyond Clifford.

Kyan Evans hit three early 3-pointers. Keshawn Williams hit a second-half 3-pointer and scored five. Ethan Morton had a couple buckets.

Jaylen Crocker-Johnson was limited with foul trouble in the first half and didn't have a first-half shot but he scored 10 second-half points.

Beyond the scoring, CSU was ferocious defensively. Nevada star Nick Davidson started 5-7 shooting but finished 8-16.

Nevada was 5-26 (19%) from 3-point range.

It's now an eight-game winning streak for CSU and teams are averaging less than 61 points per game during that stretch.

Colorado State advances to Mountain West semis

CSU will play in the second semifinal Friday night at 9 p.m. Pacific/10 p.m. Mountain against the winner of No. 3 Utah State and No. 6 UNLV.

No. 1 New Mexico and No. 5 Boise State play in the first semifinal.

CSU is living on the NCAA Tournament bubble and the win keeps the at-large hopes alive.

Check back to Coloradoan.com/sports for more on this game.

Follow sports reporter Kevin Lytle on X and Instagram @Kevin_Lytle.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Colorado State fights off Nevada to reach Mountain West semifinals

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Colorado State men's basketball fights off Nevada to reach Mountain West semifinals

Nique Clifford dominates again

CSU depth hits in key times

Colorado State advances to Mountain West semis

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