Colorado State flattens ice-cold Weber State men’s basketball 77-52
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- Weber State center Handje Tamba (32) defends Colorado State’s Isaiah Rivera (23) in a game Monday, Nov. 14, 2022, in Fort Collins, Colo.
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- Weber State guard Keith Dinwiddie Jr., left, rises up to block a dunk attempt from Colorado State’s Tavionte Jackson in a game Monday, Nov. 14, 2022, in Fort Collins, Colo.
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- Weber State guard Keith Dinwiddie Jr. (10) shoots over Colorado State’s John Tonje (1) in a game Monday, Nov. 14, 2022, in Fort Collins, Colo.
Weber State men’s basketball led Colorado State 9-8 early on Monday night, but made only two field goals in the final 15 minutes of the first half to help the Rams to an eventual 77-52 win in Fort Collins, Colorado.
“We kind of had it all tonight go against us,” WSU head coach Eric Duft said. “When we did have good offense, we missed the shot … that will come, we just have to play better on the offensive end and get the right shots.”
Steven Verplancken Jr. hit a 3-pointer, rare for the Wildcats on the night, and Dillon Jones pushed in a floater for those two field-goal makes to make it 36-15 at halftime.
Jones got rolling in the second half and recorded his second double-double in three games this season. Jones finished with 20 points, 14 rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Verplancken scored 11 points as the only other WSU (1-2) player in double figures.
Jones shot 7 of 12 from the field and 2 of 4 from the 3-point line. The rest of the WSU roster shot 2 of 22 from behind the arc until KJ Cunningham hit a pair of triples in the final minute. As is, freshman center Daniel Rouzan shot 3 of 3 and everyone else who wasn’t Jones or Rouzan was 9 of 41 from the field.
“We’re trying to incorporate all these guys, they’re still kind of searching from where their shots come within our offense and you don’t shoot it quite as confidently as we will,” Duft said. “We’ve got to play with less agenda on offense. And it’s not out of selfishness, but we’ve got guys that we get down and they’re trying to make too many individual plays … it has to be a collective effort.”
John Tonje led Colorado State (3-0) with 15 points. Tavionte Jackson scored 14 points and Jalen Lake shot 4 of 5 from deep to score 12.
Sophomore center Alex Tew got his first start coming back from an ankle injury and totaled two points and three rebounds in 10 minutes before leaving with a sprained ankle.
Weber State has a week off before playing in the Vegas 4 tournament in Henderson, Nevada, where it will face UC Riverside (1-1), Abilene Christian (1-1) and Wright State (1-1), the latter of which lost in double overtime to Davidson before beating Louisville.