• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Colorado State uses big second half to upset No. 17 UNLV

Mar 1, 2012 - 6:14 AM Fort Collins, CO (Sports Network) - Dorian Green dropped in 16 points on 6- of-11 shooting and Colorado State used a monster second half to knock off No. 17 UNLV, 66-59, at Moby Arena on Wednesday.

Wes Eikmeier finished with 11 points, while Greg Smith and Will Bell donated nine points apiece for the Rams (18-10, 7-6 MWC) who bounced back from a 74-66 loss to San Diego State on February 25 and finished undefeated in conference play for the first time since 1960-61.

The Rams will finish their regular season and conference schedule on Saturday against Air Force.

Oscar Bellfield drained five three-pointers en route to a game-high 17 points for the Runnin' Rebels (24-7, 8-5), while Anthony Marshall added 11 points and six rebounds in defeat.

The loss drops UNLV into third place in the Mountain West Conference behind San Diego State and New Mexico. The Rebels will finish the season against Wyoming on Saturday before hosting the conference tournament, which begins next week.

Trailing 47-31 early in the second half, Colorado State began an incredible comeback, using a 22-5 run to take a 53-52 lead with 6:57 to play.

A pair of free throws by Mike Moser briefly gave the lead back to the Rebels at 54-53, but Green connected on a jumper and Bell put in a layup with 4:57 left to give the Rams a 57-54 edge.

Marshall dropped a layup with less than four minutes to go to bring the Rebels within one, but Pierce Hornung caught a three under the basket from Eikmeier that missed everything and put it back to restore the Rams' three- point advantage.

Hornung sank another layup with a minute left to make it a two-possession game, 63-59, and free throws by Green and Jesse Carr sealed the upset for the Rams.

Colorado State finished the second 20 minutes of play outscoring UNLV 40-18 while shooting 48 percent.

The Rebels roared out of the gate with a 20-6 run before a pair of free throws by Bell and a layup by Carr cut the deficit to 10 with 13:20 to play in the half.

Layups by Brice Massamba and Justin Hawkins extended the UNLV advantage to 24-10, but Colorado State responded with a 12-2 run to cut the Rebels' lead to six, 26-22.

The Rebels though, closed out the first half on a 15-4 run to take an ostensibly comfortable 41-26 advantage into the locker room at halftime.

A trey by Bellfield with under four minutes gone in the second half put the Rebels ahead 47-31 but they were stone cold after that, shooting just 27 percent (6-of-22) from the floor.

Game Notes

The teams split the season series. UNLV won the first meeting of the season earlier this month by a score of 82-63 at home, which means the all-time series now numbers 33-10 in favor of the Rebels...Colorado State shot 43.4 percent overall, while UNLV shot 39.3 percent...The Rams have now won 13 straight games at home...The Rams went 16-of-18 from the foul line, while UNLV was 7-of-11 from the charity stripe...Colorado State put home 15 second chance points and received 21 points from its reserves.